


Shadows

by Spunky0ne



Category: Bleach
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2018-04-27 07:33:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5039476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spunky0ne/pseuds/Spunky0ne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Byakuya returns from the royal realm and learns Kuchiki Tetsuya has died defending the hidden Kuchiki family. As Renji comforts Byakuya amidst the devastating loss, love blossoms. But just as Byakuya resolves to put the past behind him, Aizen Sousuke's escape from Muken reveals a shocking secret about Tetsuya's fate. With Rukia, Renji, Ichigo and Grimmjow at his side, he sets out to discover the truth behind Tetsuya's fall.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rain

Thunder rumbled as a smudged and battered looking Byakuya touched down on the entry ramp at the base of the still thawing spirit realm. Flanked on one side by the equally damaged Rukia and Renji, and on the other side by Ichigo and Grimmjow, he headed for the tenchurren waiting to return the group to Soul Society.

"I don't know if I'm looking forward to this or not looking forward to it," Renji sighed wearily, "On the one hand, it's good to go home, but on the other, there's going to be a hell of a lot of cleanup to do."

"Well," said Rukia, wiping away several droplets of rain that had leaked into her eyes, "at least we all have a shelter to go to, where there will be food and a warm place to sleep."

"Yes," Byakuya agreed, "Word reached me just before we ascended with the other taichous and fukutaichous to face Ywach that Tetsuya was successful in evacuating our elders, women and children into the protected compound during the first attack."

"Which means that he and the family were safe within the compound when the Seireitei was sent into the shadows," Rukia deduced.

"The Seireitei was returned from the shadows several hours ago," Renji added, "so Tetsuya should be waiting for us at the compound."

"Yes," Byakuya agreed, a rare smile touching his lips, "it will be good to see my cousin again...and to honor him for his efforts in the war."

"That's right," Rukia said, looking pleased, "the elders will have no choice but to acknowledge his worth to the clan now."

"They'd better," Ichigo insisted, his powerful reiatsu flaring softly, "I think this war has taught us that we're all capable of working together."

He glanced at the blue haired man stalking along at his side.

"Even us former enemies, ne Grimmjow?" he added, smirking.

"What are you talking about, Kurosaki?" the sexta espada snickered teasingly, "We're still enemies. We were just not attacking each other while we had a common enemy. When we get back, I'm going home."

He scowled as he remembered suddenly the sorry state Hueco Mundo had been in just prior to his leaving.

"Well, maybe after some food and rest. I don't know about you, but it seems like they rushed us out of here awful quickly. They could have at least said thanks for the help and fed us or something. But what do we get? Basic first aid and a tenchurren ride home, eh? That's some gratitude..."

"Hey, the royal realm was damaged worse than the Seireitei," Renji reminded him, "cause the worst of the fighting took place there. I'm glad we don't have to clean that up along with everything else. Besides, once you get a taste of Matsuko's cooking, you're gonna forget about going back to your home in the desert."

"That good, eh?" Grimmjow said, his stomach rumbling only slightly less notably than the weather.

"Oh yeah," Renji sighed happily, "Taichou's staff is the best."

"I sent word ahead that we were on our way," Byakuya informed the others, "so we should be able to have a warm bath and hot food as soon as we arrive."

"Sounds good to me," Renji said approvingly, "Thanks for inviting us to come along, Taichou."

"We are all weary from battle," Byakuya said as they entered the tenchurren and took their places, "And we will be tasked with rebuilding as the dust settles and things begin to return to normal."

"I don't know how any dust is gonna settle with all of this rain turning it into drippy mud," Ichigo joked, "but thanks for the hospitality, Byakuya."

Byakuya turned a surprisingly warm grey eye on the newly identified Shiba heir.

"It is you who I should be thanking for keeping your promise to protect what we could not. You and your friends suffered greatly in your efforts to defeat the quincy king."

"Well, we couldn't have done it without everyone else who came up and fought the elite sternritters," Ichigo reminded him, "We all worked together to protect the Seireitei. And as much of a mess as it is, we can clean up and rebuild. As long as we're all still alive, we've got good reason to be thankful."

"Yes," Byakuya agreed, glancing in Rukia and Renji's direction, "I am grateful we've all survived."

The group quieted as the tenchurren rumbled to life, then a moment later, was launched through an opening beneath it, and sent hurtling back down towards the returned Seireitei beneath it. Those within the speeding craft found themselves instantly grateful for the strong restraints that kept them glued to their seats, despite the shocking forces that their rapid descent caused. Grimmjow hissed and Renji paled and looked sick for a moment as they all adjusted to the jarring motion.

"Th-thank goodness we're going so fast this won't take too long!" Rukia shouted over the noise within the quaking craft.

"I think it's gonna shake my damned teeth out!" Ichigo laughed.

The tenchurren barreled downward, plummeting from the heights of the royal realm, then slowing up suddenly as it neared the ground. The ones within gasped at the resounding jolt as they were forcibly slowed, then dropped roughly onto the landing pad.

"Damn!" Grimmjow snapped, rubbing the back of his neck, "You'd think those assholes who have everything up there and are supposed to be so smart would figure out a way to get us back down without shaking our brains out of our heads!"

"Well, at least we're in one piece," Renji laughed nervously, unlocking his restraints and moving to Byakuya's side as they prepared to disembark.

The others freed themselves and joined Byakuya by the door, then Byakuya touched the control to open the doors and allow them to exit the craft. They moved onto the ramp and filed out onto the landing pad, flinching slightly at the pelting of even harder rain. The others heard Byakuya make a sound of surprise and stopped in front of the group of aged men and women who stood ahead of them, waiting to greet them.

"Who are those guys?" Grimmjow hissed into Ichigo's ear.

"I dunno," Ichigo answered, "but they look like they're probably Byakuya's relatives."

"I'm surprised Tetsuya isn't with him," Rukia observed, "although it would be like him to stay back to protect the ones in the compound. I heard that there were still some quincies in the area. It's still dangerous here."

The others went silent and followed Byakuya to where the gathered relatives waited.

"Byakuya-sama," the oldest of the group said solemnly, "we are glad that you have returned to us. If you and your comrades will come with us, we will take you into the family compound and see you are made comfortable."

"Thank you, Nori," Byakuya said gratefully, his dark eyes sweeping over the group, "but will you tell me, where is Tetsuya? Did he stay back to protect the family?"

Byakuya's insides clenched anxiously as the cloaked elders in the group exchanged glances and the head elder's expression radiated deep sadness.

"I am sorry that your cousin is not able to join us in greeting you," Nori said in a low, slightly shaking voice that sent a chill down Byakuya's spine, "Regrettably, Kuchiki Tetsuya laid down his life, protecting the family."

"What?" Byakuya breathed, going pale and staring disbelievingly at the group, "But I received word that Tetsuya had gotten everyone into the shelter! He...!"

"He did defend us as we entered the shelter," Nori explained, his head bowing, "But he remained outside with a small force, defending the barrier, and when we were returned from the shadows, we discovered that his group had fallen, defending the barrier from some remaining quincies who meant to attack us as we emerged."

"Oh no!" Rukia gasped, grabbing Renji's sleeve as tears filled her eyes, "Tetsuya!"

"Nori, was my cousin's body recovered?" Byakuya asked shakily, "And what of Arashi?"

"I am very sorry, Byakuya-sama," Nori apologized, "You will see when we arrive. The entire fighting area was devastated by their battle. When we emerged, there were no bodies left to find. They were completely burned away."

"N-no!" Rukia sobbed into Renji's shoulder as the redhead held her tightly and fought of his own tears.

Behind them, Grimmjow noticed the devastated look on Ichigo's face and touched his arm lightly.

"He was your friend too?" he asked softly.

"Y-yeah," Ichigo managed, choking on the word, "he was."

"If you will come with us, we will escort you back to the compound," Nori said to the silent and ghostly white Byakuya.

Byakuya stood silently, as though he hadn't heard.

"Byakuya-sama?" Nori queried worriedly.

Byakuya remained still and speechless as the reality fell over him. Beside him, Renji turned the inconsolable Rukia over to Ichigo, then approached Byakuya, touching his arm and looking into his tormented eyes.

"We should go with them, Taichou," he said gently, "We're all cold and wet. We should get in, out of the rain and warm up."

Byakuya said nothing, but moved with Renji as the redhead slipped an arm around him and nudged him forward.

"I'm really sorry, Taichou," Renji said sadly as the group moved in the direction of the compound, "I loved Tetsuya too. I think we're all really going to miss him."

"Yes," Byakuya whispered, a tear escaping his eye and joining the rain that was sliding down his pale face, "thank you, Renji."

XXXXXXXXXX

Deep in the bowels of the Central 46 prison, Aizen Sousuke seethed silently within his bonds. His reiatsu flickered ominously beneath the myriad of seals that held it confined close around him. His chest still burned with the memory of his brief time out in the light and air.

_I should have known that bastard, Kyouraku, meant to torture me with just a hint of what I was missing. He knew that just that one brief touch of the outside would leave me hungering painfully for more. I think he teases me, hoping I will go mad. He is a most unlikable person..._

He breathed in the fetid air, aching inwardly as he remembered that even the smoky air in the damaged Seireitei smelled better. His eyes still throbbed with straining to see, having been teased with the sights and sounds of the world outside the prison, for just that short time.

_I understand now how such a thing undoes even a strong mind very quickly, he noted, but I won't let myself go mad. After all, there will likely be other chances to escape. I will make it my life's goal to get out of this place now and return Kyouraku's cruelty with some cruelty of my own._

_That man is going to pay..._

He paused in his heavy thoughts as some kind of little sound reached him...a soft, sobbing gasp from somewhere in the darkness around him.

_I sometimes forget I am not completely alone down here. And they did bring someone in recently. They left the person bound somewhere near here. I suppose it is that person coming to and realizing just where he or she is. For someone not transcendent like me, that discovery is devastating._

_I can almost feel sorry._

His thoughts were disturbed by the sound of a door opening, then slow footsteps that moved past him and into the darkness beyond him before stopping nearby. The man cleared his throat softly, then Aizen heard the sound of some of the bonds being released, then another desperate sob.

"There now, Cousin," the man's voice said mockingly, "we can talk."

"What have you done?" the prisoner cried furiously, struggling, "Where am I? Where have you taken me? Is this Itamigiri?"

"Is it Itamigiri?" the other man repeated, "Why, Cousin? Did you miss that place so much? Would you like me to remind you of our days together there?"

"Don't touch me!" the prisoner howled, struggling harder.

Aizen's ears picked up the sound of the impact of a stinging slap and the prisoner gasped and cried out in pain.

"You would do well to remember that you don't have any control here, Cousin!" the other man hissed, " _He_ isn't here to protect you anymore."

"He survives!" the prisoner insisted, "And when he returns, he is going to...!"

"I wouldn't get too excited and hopeful about him coming to rescue you. In fact, Byakuya returned to the Seireitei today, and he was met by the elders and informed of your heroic death protecting the family!"

"Wh-what?" the prisoner gasped, "You're crazy! You can't do this! Let me up, Oro..."

The prisoner's voice was cut off as another stinging slap was delivered to him.

"Don't you dare speak my name, you half-blood trash!" the other man said scathingly, "I would kill you if you could die, but we both know what a strange thing happened when I ran you through the heart with my sword. I don't know how you did it, you disgusting little toad, but I will figure it out and I will end your life, sooner or later."

He paused for a moment, and Aizen could hear the sound of the other prisoner's harsh, pained breathing.

"Maybe, while you wait for me to kill you, we can relive some old memories, ne?"

"Don't you dare touch me!" the prisoner raged, renewing his desperate struggle against his bonds, "Get off of me!"

Aizen would rather not have looked, but his inner eye turned reflexively and darkened hatefully as it watched Orochi bare his thick, erect member and close in on his restrained cousin. Tetsuya's head turned aside and sounds of distress escaped his parted lips as his cousin glared at him and stroked his large, cruel arousal, then brought the damp, leaking tip to Tetsuya's unprepared entrance.

"Don't!" Tetsuya cried, renewing his struggle and eliciting a wicked laugh from his cousin, "Orochi, stop!"

"How dare you speak to me like that!" Orochi rebuked him, leaning over his cousin's writhing body and taking hold of Tetsuya's throat with one hand while the other steadied his invading manhood.

Tetsuya groaned and quivered under Orochi, falling still and only loosing sounds of pain and unwilling submission as his cousin closed his eyes and gave himself over to a punishing barrage of heavy, grinding thrusts. The melting heat and tightness around him stole his breath away and brought him quickly to the edges of release. He offered his brokenhearted cousin a falsely gentle kiss as he climaxed, sending his burning seed deep into Tetsuya's shaking form. The hand on Tetsuya's throat loosened and caressed more gently as Orochi's other hand captured Tetsuya's surprisingly reactive member and stroked it roughly.

"You do remember how it was," Orochi teased him, sucking indulgently at the soft, pale skin of his cousin's throat and licking his erect nipples as he moved his hand faster.

A tormented sob sounded deep in Tetsuya's heaving chest, and his back arched reflexively as Orochi's manipulations overcame him and he released violently onto his bared white chest and soft, trembling abdomen.

"Say it, Cousin," Orochi growled, "Say it now."

Tetsuya was sure he had moved beyond the days of his incarceration, when he would have submitted easily to the demand.

_I thought I left Itamigiri behind when Byakuya rescued me...yet here we are again in a dark place and with him inside me! What can I do? I have no way to fight him and..._

"I am..." he stammered, "I...I am...!"

Orochi's hand tightened on his throat again and his black eyes bored threateningly down into Tetsuya's. Tears of frustration and hopelessness leaked from the younger man's eyes and streamed down his face as his defenses came crashing down.

"I am y-yours, Orochi-sama...o-only y-yours!"

A short distance away, Aizen's reiatsu swirled furiously around him, making the heavy bonds on his body vibrate and shimmer warningly.

_I am relieved that the guards in this place are all aware that my reiatsu is dangerous, even contained around me, or I might have faced such treatment. I wonder what manner of creature this is that they would bring him down here to confine him. That other man mentioned Byakuya. This is a relative then? And he is being hidden from Byakuya by a cousin? Intriguing. This is one of the reasons I always rather despised the nobles as a group. They really are awful._

_But this means that whoever this is...is an unauthorized 'guest' of the prison._

He felt a hopeful flicker inside at the thought.

_So then...maybe there is some potential here._

He listened as the sounds of the nearby assault faded and the other prisoner's bonds slid back into place.

"Enjoy your stay here, Cousin," the aggressor spat, giving the prisoner and final, brutal slap across the cheek before walking away and exiting.

Aizen listened to the labored breaths and soft sniffing of the injured man in the darkness near him, pondering the possibilities.

_But first, I need to make contact._

His mouth bound as thoroughly as the rest of him, he was forced to use his reiatsu to sound his thoughts.

"Greetings," he said quietly, "Would you tell me your name?"

"Who are you?" the prisoner gasped, "I can't see anything! Where are we?"

"Before I tell you that, I want you to tell me who you are that your own family would plot against you and secretly imprison you behind Byakuya's back."

"You know my cousin?" the young man asked uncertainly.

"Yes," Aizen answered, "but I'm not sure if I know you. Who are you?"

"I am Kuchiki Tetsuya," the young man answered, "My father and Byakuya-sama's were first cousins."

"Kuchiki Tetsuya?" Aizen mused, "You are...Byakuya's bodyguard?"

"Yes," Tetsuya answered.

"But it seems that you don't have the approval of all of the family, ne?"

"No," Tetsuya agreed, "I am a half-blood. My father was a Kuchiki and my mother a peasant from the mid-Rukongai. We were imprisoned in the illegal noble's prison, Itamigiri..."

"Until Byakuya led a rescue effort when he was a teen, and heir to the clan leadership. I remember," Aizen interjected.

"You do?" Tetsuya said hopefully.

"Yes. I was a fukutaichou at the time and was acquainted with him. I was impressed with his ability to pull off such a daring thing at such a young age."

"My cousin has my undying gratitude for coming to my rescue before," Tetsuya said, an edge of regret in his voice.

"But I don't think you can expect he will come for you this time, Tetsuya," Aizen reasoned, "It sounds like that man has convinced Byakuya you are dead."

"I think so," Tetsuya said worriedly, "This will devastate my cousin, and if they moved against me, he could be in danger!"

"I think you need to be more worried about your own fate," Aizen suggested, "It sounds like as soon as your cousin finds out what trick you used to escape death when he stabbed you, he will be back to kill you. You don't have long, I imagine, to figure out how to escape. I am willing to help you, but right now, I am as trapped as you are."

"But where are we? Who are you exactly?" Tetsuya asked.

"I think I'll keep that to myself for now," Aizen said, smirking beneath his bonds, "Suffice it to say, I am someone who understands all too well the treachery of some of the noble sons. Like you, they have interfered in my life and like you, I want to get out of this prison."

"But what prison is this? And why won't you tell me your name?" Tetsuya insisted, "I can't offer you help escaping if you won't tell me anything about yourself. How do I know you won't kill me after we get out of here?"

"You don't know that, I am afraid," Aizen answered honestly, "But...as I have no way out without you, I will do what I can to help you, as your bonds are probably more vulnerable than mine. And if I help you escape, could you not return the favor by helping me? I promise you, I want no trouble here. I only wish to escape and live a peaceful life on my own."

He paused for a moment, letting the young man absorb the request.

"Tetsuya, you do want to get out of here alive and back to Byakuya, don't you?"

"Yes."

"And you must do so before your cousin returns and carries through on his threat to kill you."

"Yes."

"Then, it is in your best interests and mine to work together. Let us put our minds to that."

Tetsuya considered quietly for a moment.

"Very well," he said finally, "Where do we begin?"

"Hmm," Aizen said, thinking, "I want you to start by telling me everything you can about your abilities. I can't use any of mine, but maybe we can find something you can use, ne? Start from the beginning. Tell me everything you can do."


	2. Dealings in the Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Byakuya mourns his cousin's death, the hogyoku teases Aizen into protecting Tetsuya.

_Aizen Sousuke..._

The sound of the sedate, male voice in his mind woke the sleeping shinigami instantly. Under the heavy, restrictive bonds, Aizen's brown eyes opened, then blinked and realized they were still cloaked in darkness and couldn't see. They closed again, slowly, and he turned his gaze inward, where he sensed the rise of the hogyoku's presence in his mind.

 _It has been a long time, Hogyoku_ , he answered, _Why have you decided to end your long silence?_

He paused in his thinking for a moment, then under the restrictive bonds, his lips curved into a smile.

_You sense that this one near me, this lost soul cast into the darkness with me...can be useful?_

His heartbeat quickened at the warm flicker in his chest and the soft pulses of returning activity.

_You have no idea of just what exists in Kuchiki Tetsuya. But I do._

Aizen took a deeper breath, his mind waking more fully and focusing deeply on the orb lodged in his chest.

_I sensed that he has appreciable power. He lost consciousness from the earlier assault before he could explain his powers to me, but when he wakes again, I will entice him into telling me about them._

The hogyoku flickered brightly for a moment, then pulsed in a slow, steady pattern of beats that fell gradually into rhythm with Tetsuya's heart.

_What is most enthralling about his powers, he would not be able to tell you. He doesn't begin to know. But...I am sure that you will enjoy discovering them._

Aizen's bound form radiated calm curiosity at the declaration.

 _It is a bit difficult to discover anything about him while he is unconscious, he mused, If it is your will for me to learn this, then why don't you tell me about him, yourself_?

Aizen's body warmed pleasantly as the hogyoku's eye turned in their minds to look at him.

_You know that I am a creature created from the forces of will and desire?_

_Yes. You sense the desires of those around you and bring those desires to life. I understand this._

In his mind, Aizen felt the hogyoku's reiatsu flare and swell.

_Under the bonds placed on me, I cannot transform things, but sensing and using the desires of those around me does not require me to use a power that can be restrained._

Aizen's breath caught softly in realization.

_And yet, even being able to bring one's desires to life, you have not been able to free me, although you know my will to be free is very strong. ___

A flutter of disapproval emanated from the orb for a moment, then dissipated.

_You must remember that my ability to bring to life the will and desires of those around me is dependent upon those desires being within the person's reach._

Aizen's tightly restrained body quivered expectantly at the words and he breathed in more deeply still.

_You are saying that...?_

_I am telling you that before this man's arrival in this place, your will was not enough to bring the forces into play to help us escape. Or perhaps, your will was enough, but you were not capable of reaching that desire alone._

_But that has changed_? Aizen inquired curiously.

 _It has_. 

In his mind's eye, Aizen watched as a thin sliver of silvery brightness emerged from the hogyoku and slithered slowly away from him. It stretched out across the blackness, honing in on the heavily bound form a short distance away. It paused just short of the young man, flickering excitedly for a moment before it closed the distance and touched him.

 _Kuchiki Tetsuya is driven to escape. His devotion to his cousin, his desire to protect Kuchiki Byakuya has made his will to escape indomitable. And...he is capable of escaping. But only if you assist him_.

Aizen let out a short, pleased breath. He waited for the hogyoku to continue, but the orb only fluttered slightly and fell silent again. After several minutes of reflection, he gave a mental nod.

_You find and light the desires we possess, but only we can bring the flames to life. Thank you, Hogyoku._

He found it easier to wait patiently then, as Tetsuya slept in the darkness near him, a sliver of warmth in the vast, icy expanse of the underground prison. He was surprised at how close Tetsuya's presence felt, how he could sense the young man shivering and could feel the terror that his horrid nightmares caused in his sleeping mind.

_I have long been able to anticipate the thinking of other people. It helped me to be able to snare the Gotei taichous and Central 46 in my plans. Yes, I can follow the thought patterns of other people with ease and predict their paths flawlessly. Strangely, what is happening between this young man and me is different. I don't know him well enough yet to anticipate him. Yet, I know exactly what is passing through his mind anyway as he sleeps._

_This then is not anticipation._

_It is empathy._

He paused, frowning at the unlikelihood of such a thing.

_I have never been a person who connected empathically. Through calm reason and logic, I came to understand others' thinking and I connected with them, based on what I learned about them. But they never learned enough about me to really know me. I always showed them only a false reflection. Empathy is different. It is a connection of souls that dates back to the emergence of the soul king, himself, who bonded empathically with his first creation...the first Kuchiki...Kuchiki Hajime, who then became his royal consort. It is said that Hajime's heart helped the king's to grow warm and alive. And when they connected, all things became possible..._

_And with Kuchiki Tetsuya's arrival here, the hogyoku has awakened to tell me that same message._

_All things are possible now..._

XXXXXXXXXX

Byakuya stood under a black canvas canopy, dressed in a solid black formal kimono and holding a small silver urn. The pounding raindrops splashed hard against the sturdy material protecting him, and pelted the umbrellas covering the black clad friends and relatives gathered in front of him, all facing the dark opening in the ground, their faces solemn. Rukia leaned against Renji's shoulder, her soft sniffs sounding between silent sobs and feeling no warmth, even when Ichigo's arm wrapped around her from the other side and held her tightly too. A short distance from the others, Kuchikis Sadao and Mai stood with their two daughters, tears streaming down their faces and devastation in their eyes. In front of them, Byakuya removed from his pocket a silver Celtic moon charm that looked strangely undamaged, although the cord it had hung from was burned away completely. His mind returned to the moment, earlier in the day, when Tetsuya's attendant had approached him as he stood alone in his cousin's empty room.

_"This was all that was left at the site where we sensed that his reiatsu had diminished," Tetsuya's attendant whispered, extending a shaky hand and offering the piece to Byakuya, "Byakuya-sama, I begged and pleaded for him to allow me to accompany him. But he...he ordered me to stay within the protected area! I wanted to be with him! I would have died for him!"_

_"Koji," Byakuya said solemnly, placing a warm hand on the young man's cheek and looking into his damp, reddened eyes, "Tetsuya loved you. You accepted and cared for him without question when he was nothing but a thin, ragged boy. You helped him to grow strong. And it was because of who you were to him that he couldn't let you accompany him. Know this. He never doubted your strength. He just couldn't bear to lose you."_

_Silent sobs jolted Koji's slender body and he collapsed slowly onto his knees at Byakuya's feet._

_"I can't bear to lose him either!" he moaned, clawing at the carpeted floor with his fingers as his older brother appeared in the doorway behind him and moved swiftly to his side._

Byakuya took a steadying breath, pushing the memory away and turning his gaze onto the people in front of him. He opened the empty urn and slowly lowered Tetsuya's silver charm into it, remembering as he watched the piece disappear into the darkness, the first time he had laid eyes on his cousin.

_Byakuya flash stepped furiously, spinning around the struggling bodies of the fighting guards. He dashed into the prison and headed for the first cell block, his insides clenching at the sounds of reiatsu blasts and heart wrenching screams of the dying prisoners. Pink bursts of spinning petal blades erupted from his hands, engulfing the bodies of guards who stepped into his path and he passed them by even before they fell. His heart pounded as he closed the distance to the little cell at the end, where his cousin was reported to be._

_"Tetsuya!" he cried, watching in horror as a guard stepped in front of the cell and fired a blast into it, then terrified screams sounded from within._

_White fire lanced from Byakuya's hands, throwing the guard off his feet and killing him before he hit the ground. He flash stepped to the cell and blasted the old, rusted door off its hinges. His heart in his throat, he raced into the cell and skidded to a stop._

_A small, thin black-haired boy laid on the crumpled form of a larger, brown-haired youth. Neither boy moved as he approached._

_"Tetsuya," he panted, his heart aching with worry._

_In front of him, the smaller boy moved. His head turned and wide sapphire eyes sought Byakuya's._

_"H-he tried to protect m-me!" the boy stammered._

_Byakuya moved quickly to the boys' side and knelt to check the elder boy's condition. To his dismay, there were no signs of life._

_"I am sorry," he apologized, taking his cousin's hand, "I was too late to save him."_

_The younger boy's eyes filled with tears and his voice shook as he answered._

_"B-but you came for us, Byakuya-s-sama! N-naoki always said he believed you would come! Th-thank you!"_

_He crawled to his staring cousin and bowed forward, resting his face on Byakuya's sandaled feet._

_"Thank you!"_

Byakuya's dark grey eyes blinked, bringing him back to the rainy cemetery and the large group of people who had gathered to honor his fallen cousin.

"Thank you for coming," he said, forcing calm into his voice, "Tetsuya would be honored that he inspired so many to love him. When I first met my cousin, he was small and frighteningly weak...alone in the world. Mine was the hand honored with pulling him out of the darkness. Then Koji cared for him, and we taught Tetsuya how to live outside the prison he was born in. Sadao and Mai welcomed Tetsuya into their subfamily, and they, along with Tetsuya's new sisters, Aratani and Kohana, gave Tetsuya a loving family to support him. I am proud to say that I helped Tetsuya to find and develop the power that rested inside him. He persevered always, longing to have the strength to protect the ones he loved, and growing until he reached the peak of his powers...until he achieved bankai."

Byakuya paused, tears threatening as another memory raked his taxed mind.

_"The elders have no right to hold you back anymore!" he shouted angrily, "Tetsuya, you have the power of a taichou! You should be serving in the armed forces, defending the Seireitei right alongside me, not hiding in my shadows and never being respected for your strength and abilities."_

_"It's all right," Tetsuya said soothingly, laying a hand gently on Byakuya's arm and looking into his furious eyes, "Byakuya-sama, I only want to protect you! I don't care about...military honors and what those old men think about me! None of them cared that I was naked and alone in Itamigiri, waiting to be rescued. You did. You came to save me, and I am never going to be able to repay you for that!"_

"Even then, he chose, not the path to personal glory, but only to protect those he loved. We are fortunate to have had Tetsuya with us for the time we did. All of the family standing here with me is only here because of Tetsuya's wisdom to prepare for the worst, his bravery in the face of insurmountable evil, and his willingness to lay down his life to protect all of us. And now, we are the ones who will never be able to repay him."

Byakuya looked down into the urn he held, taking in one last time, the sight of the gift he had long ago placed around his cousin's slender throat.

_Byakuya smiled as Tetsuya stepped out of the trees and into the moonlit clearing in the meadow where they had trained together. Softly glowing blue eyes scanned the area and slowly came to rest on him, eliciting an answering smile of welcome on Tetsuya's soft lips._

_"Byakuya-sama?"_

_Byakuya stepped out of the shadows, letting the moonlight fall on the formal kimono he wore and making the silver pendant and chain he held in his hand glitter._

_"Byakuya-sama, what is this? Why did you call me here?"_

_"Come here, watashi no itoko. I have something for you."_

_Tetsuya moved closer, his eyes taking in the lovely charm as Byakuya held it up for him to see._

_"I found this in a shop while I was away on assignment. It is a Celtic moon charm."_

_"It's beautiful," Tetsuya whispered, his hand reaching out and his fingertips caressing the interwoven silver strands._

_"It reminded me of you," Byakuya explained, placing the chain around Tetsuya's neck and fastening the clasp, "The moon's unseen hands control Earth's tides. The moon is always there, though the sunlight hides it sometimes. The moon rises when it's dark and it shines brightly, reminding us that for however long the sun leaves our sight, morning will come and the light will return. It is a symbol of intuition, imagination and enduring hope. This is what you are to me, Tetsuya, and no tradition, no act of council...nothing will ever change that. You will always have my love and my deepest respect, wherever you go and through every turn of our fate."_

_He leaned forward and surprised his blushing cousin with a gently placed kiss on those soft, warm lips._

_"B-byakuya-sama," Tetsuya said, stepping back nervously, "you can't..."_

_"I know," Byakuya assured him, following him as he moved and sliding his arms around him, "You worry about my honor and I would never forgive myself if I took you as my lover and it put you in the path of their hatred. That kiss was only a promise that our hearts will always be connected. Just this once, kiss me under the light of this enchanting moon and promise that you'll always stay with me, no matter who we marry or how our lives change."_

_Tetsuya hesitated for a long moment, trapped in his embrace and looking up into his commanding gaze with bright, widened eyes. Very slowly, he nodded and let himself relax. And when Byakuya kissed him again, his eyes closed and his lips parted and moved in response. Byakuya's cool tongue dipped into his mouth and curled around his, caressing gently, then even more slowly withdrawing. Their lips parted from each other's and Byakuya brought Tetsuya's head to rest on his shoulder._

_"I love you, Tetsuya."_

_He knew not to expect a like declaration, but instead would receive a gentle reminder that such love couldn't be._

_"I won't pressure you to give in to me. Even if you did, you would think it was wrong and it could hurt you. So instead, I will make you my protector. I know I am always safe with you. And someday, Tetsuya, someone will love you the way you deserve to be loved...a love that is deep and passionate, blinding in its beauty and so enthralling that you won't be able to turn away from it. You will fall in love and it won't end like it did when you loved Yukishima Naoki. This is what you deserve, Tetsuya, and it is more than I can give you."_

_"What do you mean?" Tetsuya laughed, happy tears filling his eyes, "You have given me everything...a home, a new life. You helped me to find the strength I need to protect what is most dear to me...you who saved me, Koji who cared for me and Sadao, Mai and my sisters, who adopted me and made me one of their own. I don't need another lover, Byakuya-sama. I just need all of you."_

_Byakuya smiled and slid his hand down to touch the hilt of Tetsuya's sheathed weapon._

_"Then, with the blessing of the leader of the Kuchiki clan, become our protector. Use your wisdom and all of your powers to keep us safe through all dangers."_

_Tetsuya lowered himself onto his knees and bowed his head in acceptance._

_"With body, heart and mind, I promise so to do."_

Byakuya took a steadying breath and closed the silver urn, then lowered it into the opened grave, using a kido spell to set it down gently at the bottom. Wordlessly, he lowered himself onto his knees, unaware that, as he did, each of the gathered elders, then all of the rest of those who had gathered did the same.

"Thank you, Tetsuya," he said with forced calm, "We are forever in your debt. You have earned a place in our hearts and in the rich history of our clan, and your legacy will never be forgotten. Lay down your sword and go in peace. You have fulfilled your promises and are free now."

The gathered mourners went breathless as the rain suddenly lightened, then slowly faded away, the sky covered with breaking clouds and the sun peeking through, the air fresh and lightly scented with flowers.

Long repressed tears leaked onto Byakuya's proud features as, behind him, the elders rose and led the other guests back to Kuchiki Manor. Renji held back, waiting until they were gone, then moving to Byakuya's side and kneeling next to him. His large, rough hand captured Byakuya's softer, more slender one and clasped it comfortingly.

"Are you gonna be okay, Taichou?" he asked, then he colored and shook his head, "Sorry, I know you'll make yourself be all right. I just...I'm sorry, Taichou...really sorry."

"Thank you, Renji," Byakuya sighed, taking a breath and brushing his tears away.

He stood, bringing Renji up with him, and turned them to follow the path the others had taken. Behind them, Orochi waited within the trees, then stepped out and walked to Tetsuya's graveside. He focused on the silver urn, making it rise and taking it into his hands. He opened it and removed the silver charm, then closed the urn and dropped it back into the grave. Smiling to himself, he tucked the piece into his pocket and flash stepped away.

He left the manor and headed out along the quiet streets of the recovering Seireitei, carefully avoiding the piles of debris and partially collapsed buildings. As he reached the entrance to Central 46, he breathed a word to his zanpakutou and shifted to snake form. It was easy then to slip inside the compound and to travel down to the lowest level of the shinigami prison. He kept his serpentine form until he passed into Muken and reached Tetsuya, where he laid bound and unconscious. Moving forward, he unbound one slim hand and pressed the stolen charm into it, then closed it again and refastened the bindings.

"A gift for you, Cousin," he said, smirking, "They buried you today. By tomorrow, you will only be a memory to them, but I have decided I won't actually kill you. I will just keep you here...tied up and freezing in the darkness. But don't cry, Tetsuya. I will come and warm you sometimes. I won't forget you are here. I always said that you were mine. Now, no one can take you away from me."

Orochi stiffened as a sudden flicker of heavy, dark reiatsu throbbed somewhere nearby and Aizen Sousuke's calm, sedate voice sounded.

"You are as wicked as I remember you, Kuchiki Orochi."

Orochi spat in the direction of the sound, his black eyes flashing and his lips curling defiantly.

"Do you think I fear you, you depraved animal?" he taunted Aizen, "You are no more dangerous to me than that half-blood weakling cousin of mine!"

"Is that so?" Aizen inquired curiously, "I think I agree with you. But then, you have no idea the danger you are in when you come near the two of us."

"The two of you?" Orochi snarled softly, "The two of you are helpless...locked up in the dark and forgotten by everyone. Or haven't you heard that Shiba Ichigo is the great hero who cast down the quincy king? Aizen Sousuke's time has come and gone."

"Has it?" Aizen mused, "How awful, to be underestimated like that. But...don't you remember, that is why I was able to wreak havoc on Soul Society before?"

"Do you think that will make me fear you now?" Orochi hissed, "I don't."

"No, of course you don't. Neither you nor the rest of them will feel that terror until it is too late. That will make your death all the sweeter when it comes. You should go now, before someone discovers you are here and what you've done."

Orochi huffed out a scathing breath, glaring in Aizen's direction as he loosened his clothing and closed in on Tetsuya's still unconscious form.

"I will leave after I have warmed my cousin. I don't want him to freeze to death. That would be too gentle a fate. I know your bound eyes can't see this, but your inner eye will."

"You shouldn't touch him," Aizen warned Orochi quietly, "The hogyoku has sensed a power in him that you don't want to see awakened."

"Ridiculous!" Orochi snapped, "I know Tetsuya has no power like that. I know more about him than you ever will!"

"You think so?" Aizen asked dulcetly, "Then...tell me, if you really know. Why didn't your sword kill him when it passed through his heart?"

Orochi froze, his breath misting in the black air and his heart pounding as he remembered how his sword felt like it was passing through air as it cut through Tetsuya's shocked form.

_In the back of his mind, he heard an equine scream and felt Arashi's powerful presence. Tetsuya's body glowed strangely, defying the blade that tried to pierce it, then he staggered and collapsed at his cousin's feet._

_"What was that?" Orochi gasped, staring at Tetsuya's unconscious body as the firestorm raged around them, "What did you do, you bastard?"_

"You don't have any idea, do you?" Aizen laughed softly, "But I promise you, Tetsuya's power is real. You had best leave and never come back here. And when we are free, you should never let yourself be found, or I will kill you. Lay your hands on him again, and I will hunt you down, wherever you go. You won't be able to close your eyes without me being there and turning your breaths into screams."

"You _psychopath_!" Orochi gasped, his hands shaking softly as he drew his weapon and retreated into snake form, then slithered away.

"I suppose that accusation is true," Aizen said, smirking and relaxing in his bonds as Tetsuya stirred sluggishly and began to wake.

"Is someone there?" he asked shakily, peering into the blackness.

"Only me," Aizen answered, "Your cousin left without touching you."

Tetsuya hesitated, his lips quivering and strange shudders going down his spine.

"Thank you," he said finally, "I don't know how you convinced him to stop, but I am grateful. Orochi is a truly wicked person. He enjoys hurting me."

"Well," Aizen said in an amused tone, "Don't be too grateful yet. You must know that a snake will only be intimidated by a larger one?"

"Oh, I know that, whoever you are, you have your own reasons for protecting me," Tetsuya answered softly, "And I will only ask that, whatever wicked things you plan for the future, do not hurt any innocent people, most especially not Byakuya-sama and Rukia-chan."

Under his bonds, Aizen smiled more warmly.

"Very well. I will reserve my wickedness for those who truly deserve it, and I will not touch anyone whom you protect. This will be our agreement, Kuchiki Tetsuya. Can you live with that arrangement?"

 _Why does it feel like I am selling my soul to the devil, himself_? Tetsuya wondered, shivering as he considered.

He hesitated a moment longer, gazing into the darkness uncertainly, then he took a steadying breath and answered.

"Yes. As long as you keep your promise, I will agree to help you."


	3. Comfort in the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Renji comforts Byakuya, while in Muken, Aizen works to convince Tetsuya that the two can escape.

Byakuya sat outside his bedroom on the edge of the walkway, leaned against a wooden support and looking up into the cloudy sky at the bright full moon. Beside him, an opened and half empty bottle of sake sat on a silken piece of cloth alongside two antique cups. Renji stepped out of a nearby guest room, dressed in a handsome green sleeping yukata and with his long autumn hair braided and let down over his shoulder. He spotted Byakuya sitting alone on the walkway, with his attendant kneeling respectfully within the bedroom and waiting to provide anything the clan leader might need.

"Hey Torio," he greeted the attendant, a sad flicker touching him inside as he realized Byakuya hadn't moved or said anything as he had approached, "I've got this. Why don't you go on to bed. I'll take care of him."

"Ah..." Torio said uncertainly, glancing at Byakuya.

"You are excused, Torio," Byakuya said quietly, "I am sure your brother needs you. It is a difficult night for all of us."

"Thank you, Byakuya-sama," the young man said, bowing, "I will be with Koji if you need anything."

Renji sat down on the other side of the sake set, looking down at Byakuya's almost empty cup and the other that had been filled and left waiting.

"Go ahead," Byakuya invited him.

"Isn't that set out to honor your cousin?" Renji asked, frowning.

A sad smile flitted onto Byakuya lips.

"Tetsuya rarely partook of anything alcoholic," he explained, "He was extremely sensitive and would become intoxicated on only one drink. I did pour this to honor him, but it was hardly appropriate, considering."

"I think it's appropriate," Renji said, smiling and picking up the cup, "It brought back something pleasant, something good that you shared with him."

Renji lifted the cup to his lips and drank deeply.

"Down in Inuzuri, whenever we'd lose a friend, we made it a tradition to bury the person with something that would remind'em of us. And it's funny. Even though what we buried with them wasn't visible to us anymore, we remembered it better because it was in the ground with our friend, and thinking of that friend holding onto a piece of our past together was a little bit of comfort. We knew we wouldn't forget, and we knew we wouldn't be forgotten. When you're invisible to most of the world, being remembered is one of the most important things...for the living and the dead."

"Tetsuya held a similar view," Byakuya said softly, taking another large swallow of sake, "I think it makes sense that he would because, like you, he grew up owning nothing and trapped in an unforgiving world. As they grew up, Tetsuya and his Naoki only really had each other...and the hope that someday, I would come to free them. But even as Tetsuya gained his freedom, he lost the person he loved, and I had his lover's body brought here, to Kuchiki Manor for burial. Tetsuya made a request of me, which I honored as a favor to him. First, I had Naoki recognized as Tetsuya's husband, as the two had given each other their vows while still prisoners and being improperly denied their rights. Tetsuya also asked me to place one of the petal blades from my bankai in Naoki's urn with his remains...as a sign that hope is always there."

Byakuya paused, sighing softly and closing his eyes. His breath caught slightly as Renji's hand slid into his and squeezed gently.

"It's there for you too, Taichou," he assured Byakuya.

"Is it?" Byakuya asked, opening his eyes again and looking up at the moon, "Because, however much hope I have, Tetsuya will not come back this time."

"No," Renji agreed, "And that's hell to have to deal with that. It's a hell that you and I have gone through too many times. You lost your parents, Hisana, and now Tetsuya. I lost every friend who was like family to Rukia and me as we grew up. But even though I lost almost all of the people who mattered to me, I didn't lose them all...and you still have people who you love too. When you start looking too much at what you've lost, you can forget about how much you still have. I know you love Rukia."

"Yes."

"And you are close with Torio, Toshi and Akio, the brothers who have served your family since you were all kids."

"That is true," Byakuya agreed, blinking slowly.

"I still have Rukia also, and I have friends I've made here in the Seireitei since I left Inuzuri and came to live here. And I have someone else who is an inspiration to me, who I want to be like...who I love now, more than anything."

Byakuya froze for a moment, hardly daring to breathe as Renji's hand left his and the redhead's arm curled around him, coaxing him into laying his head on Renji's shoulder, with the sake set still in between them.

"Losing someone you love is real lonely," Renji went on, the words bringing tears into Byakuya's dark eyes, "And I think the more you love the person who dies, the more lonely you feel when they're gone. When you went up against As Nodt and I saw you disappear into your own petals, it felt like all of the hope I had dried up and died with you. I woke up briefly in the hospital, before we were taken to the royal realm, and the first thing that I thought was...is this where I start having to go on without him? How am I going to keep breathing? It hurt so bad to breathe, knowing you had to have died and stopped breathing. Then...I overheard someone say that you were somehow still alive. And even though you were still in bad shape, I felt like I could breathe again. And it was then that I decided, you know, when the war's over and we go home, I'm just going to say it. I'm going to tell him that I love him, and whatever happens will happen. I don't want one more day to go by with you not knowing how much I love you, Taichou. And even if you can't love me back..."

Renji's words disappeared as Byakuya's head tilted suddenly, bringing his sake-drenched lips together with the redhead's. They shared several long, wet kisses, then Byakuya parted their lips and looked up at Renji through hazy, reddened eyes.

"I don't know what part of my heart will be left in the morning," he said quietly, "Tetsuya's passing has broken it badly. But...whatever part of it is left, I will offer it to you, Renji. Because you are my inspiration, I want to be more like you...and...I love you too."

Renji gave Byakuya a sad smile, then helped him to his feet and back into his bedroom. He tucked the noble into bed, then slid in under the covers beside him. Wrapping his body warmly around Byakuya's, he laced their fingers together and pressed his cheek up against the weary noble's. Each feeling a little less lonely, the two surrendered to sleep, while outside, the moon shined brightly overhead.

XXXXXXXXXX

Ichigo tossed and turned in his sleep, his lips moving and soft moans of protest escaping as Tetsuya appeared in his mind, smiling and dressed in a simple, white yukata...his feet bare as he walked through the rain dampened grass, under a full moon. He looked back at Ichigo, saying something that he couldn't understand.

_"Tetsuya!" Ichigo called out, running after his friend as something dark began to approach from behind him, "Tetsuya, behind you!"_

_He couldn't see what kind of horror was coming, but he could feel the wicked swell of its reiatsu as it closed in on the still smiling noble._

_"Tetsuya!" he cried again, trying desperately to flash step, but hindered by the heavy reiatsu that pushed against him and held him back._

_Ahead of him, Tetsuya's smile faded, and he turned to face the black terror that was already reaching for him._

_"NO!" Ichigo screamed, "LET HIM GO!"_

_Tetsuya's face blanched as the monster's arm curled around his waist and the beast pulled him close and bent its head to kiss the pure, white flesh of the noble's exposed throat._

_"STOP!" Ichigo howled, watching in dismay as the beast's head lifted slightly, and the thing's face came into view._

_He had a flash impression of a surprisingly handsome and familiar face, and a long curl of brown hair that trailed down between wicked brown eyes._

_"You!" Ichigo gasped, "What are you doing to him? Leave him alone!"_

"Hey," a male voice said suddenly, bringing Ichigo out of sleep and shocking him back into wakefulness, "You all right, Kurosaki?"

Ichigo panted and blinked, Tetsuya's voice still sounding in his mind, and the image of Aizen's face still haunting him.

"G-grimmjow?" Ichigo managed, accepting a glass of water the Espada picked up from the nightstand and set in his hand.

He took a long swallow, blinking to clear his head.

"You were yelling in your sleep," Grimmjow explained.

"Oh," Ichigo said, coloring, "sorry if I woke you up."

"Eh, who can sleep?" Grimmjow complained off-handedly, "It's just settling in that the war is over and we can start going back to normal."

He huffed out a soft, heated breath.

"Although, what the hell is normal? Those quincies really fucked things up here. It's going to be a while before it even looks, let alone feels normal around here."

"Yeah," Ichigo agreed, looking down and unclenching one hand that was still holding onto the bedding, "and some things aren't going to go back to normal. A lot of people died."

"Seems like one in particular is haunting you," the Espada observed, "You were calling out his name."

"Yeah?" Ichigo mused, "Well, it's still settling in, I guess. It doesn't feel real. It still seems like he's just out patrolling the grounds and he'll show up at breakfast with everyone else. I should feel it inside if he's gone, right? Cause I don't feel that."

"But you know he's not coming back."

"I know. It just...feels like I can't really be awake. I have to be dreaming this. It's weird how close he still feels, even though he died."

"Give it time," Grimmjow advised him, "Ghosts always fade over time."

"That's not going to help me stop bugging you while you're trying to sleep," Ichigo sighed wearily.

"Well," Grimmjow mused, "if you're going to be stubborn and keep waking me up anyway, it'd make more sense for me to sleep in here, so I can elbow you and make you wake up faster. Then, we'll both get more sleep, ne?"

Ichigo blinked in surprise.

"You wanna sleep with me?" he asked, looking confused.

"I don't want to get into your pants or anything," Grimmjow snickered, "I'm just trying to make it so we can both sleep better...though, if you want to have sex, I wouldn't mind. It's been a while..."

"Fuck you! No way!" Ichigo snapped, blushing brightly, "Get out of here, I'm not having sex with you! Besides, I thought you wanted to fight me, not have sex with me!"

"Fighting, sex," Grimmjow chuckled, ducking as Ichigo swatted at him, "Both of'em get your heart pounding and make you feel alive, right?"

"Would you get outta here, you damned pervert? I'm trying to go back to sleep!" Ichigo complained.

"Fine, whatever," Grimmjow said, still looking amused as he rose and started towards the bedroom door, "You know where to find me if you change your mind about the sleeping together or the sex."

"Grimmjow!"

"I'll be sleeping whenever you stop having nightmares and yelling."

"Ugh, all right! Fine, stay if you want!" Ichigo snapped irritably, "Just don't be touching me while I'm out, you got it?"

"Sure, fine," Grimmjow said, smirking as he climbed in under the covers, "No touching."

Ichigo settled down again, turning away from Grimmjow and snuggling around a large pillow.

"Hey."

"Hmm?"

"Can I look?"

"Asshole! Shut up and go to sleep!"

"Okay, no looking either. Man, you're no fun at all, Kurosaki."

XXXXXXXXXX

Soft, muted sounds of pain and fear brought Aizen Sousuke out of sleep and focused his attention on the heavily bound noble, who laid nearby in the darkness. He listened for several minutes, trying to ascertain whether Tetsuya was awake or asleep and concluded that he must be sleeping.

"Kuchiki Tetsuya?"

He heard the noble draw a hissing breath and the sounds died away. He could hear an edge of humiliation in Tetsuya's voice when he finally spoke.

"I'm sorry I woke you."

"It's fine," Aizen assured him, "At very least, it is good to have someone to talk to, although you've spent more time unconscious than conscious since you arrived. But now that you're awake, perhaps we can talk about your abilities."

Tetsuya paused, considering.

"I still don't know if I feel comfortable explaining my powers to a man who won't even tell me his name."

Aizen smiled under the bonds that covered his face.

"That is understandable," he agreed, "But consider that I didn't simply give you a false one. That should tell you something."

"I suppose," Tetsuya said hesitantly, "But if you won't tell me your name, can you tell me something about you?"

"What would you like to know?"

"Are you here because you committed a crime?" Tetsuya asked, "Or were you incarcerated for more political reasons, like me?"

"You think you are here because of political reasons?" Aizen inquired curiously, "What reasons would those be?"

"I am of mixed peasant and noble blood," Tetsuya explained, "This is why I was incarcerated with my parents in Itamigiri, and it is why my father was executed."

"But I would argue that it is not why you are here," Aizen posited.

"What do you mean?" Tetsuya asked, a note of confusion in his voice, "I was set up. Orochi killed the fighters who were with me, and he tried to kill me also. He did this to purge the family of my mixed blood."

"That is true. However, none of that is why you are here."

"Then, why am I here?" Tetsuya asked, "and where am I? What is this darkness?"

"You are in a prison for violent criminals," Aizen informed him, "And I would say that the reason you were brought here is because your cousin was spooked by whatever power allowed you to escape death when he stabbed you in the heart. I brought it up, because I overheard him speak of it to you, and when I did, he radiated fear. It was this that made it easy for me to intimidate him into leaving without raping you again."

"Oh," Tetsuya mused, "but the truth is, I don't know exactly what happened."

"Maybe it would help to start from the beginning," Aizen suggested.

Tetsuya considered quietly for a moment, then nodded.

"You already know that I was incarcerated in Itamigiri for all of my childhood. Heavy seals were placed on all of Itamigiri's children, so that our powers never emerged. We were not fed, because they wanted us to be weak. We were beaten severely or locked in an underground coffin-like structure called the pit if we disobeyed our captors. Orochi was sent to Itamigiri by Byakuya-sama when he learned of the prison's location and planned an assault to free the prisoners."

"Something tells me that he wasn't a good choice for the job," Aizen said solemnly.

"Orochi might not have wanted us mixed bloods dead like some other people did, but he did look down on us and he wanted us to submit to him. If we showed any sign of willfulness, he crushed it. He was cruel to my cellmate, Naoki, and to me, and he enjoyed using us for his sexual perversions. By the time Byakuya-sama raided the prison, I had been sexually trained to respond to Orochi. The only other person who dared touch me was Naoki, when we were sure no one was about. Even after I was rescued, it took a long time to break the mental chains Orochi had placed on me."

"You say your powers were sealed for the duration of your childhood. How did they emerge, once the seals were removed?"

"The truth is that the seals weren't removed," Tetsuya confessed, "I broke them."

"I see," Aizen said, his curiosity piqued, "And how did that happen, Tetsuya?"

"My lover, Naoki, was killed before Byakuya-sama reached me. My cousin brought Naoki's body, and we started out of the cellblock. As we emerged from the building, a group of guards attacked us, and Byakuya-sama was unable to react quickly enough. We were going to die, and it was...strange. I felt something...burning in my heart, then bright white light exploded out of me. I thought that I was going to die, but the light faded and we saw something standing between the attacking guards and Byakuya-sama and me. It was a black Arabian stallion. He screamed at them and then fired a volley of ice blades from his nose and mouth, killing the guards and opening the path for us."

"Interesting," Aizen said raptly, "You say this horse emerged from your body? Is this your power, then?"

"Actually, my power is water based," Tetsuya corrected him, "I give the command Touei, and I can create waterforms that I use to position myself for offensive or defensive moves in my battles. I can shift my body from waterform to waterform, or I can create a lot of waterforms and scatter them to confuse my enemy. In bankai, my waterforms are compacted and turned to sharp ice blades that I fire from my sword."

"And you say your stallion can also use these attacks?" Aizen inquired.

"Yes," Tetsuya confirmed, "Arashi is able to use all of my abilities. He exists separately from me, but in truth, we are parts of one soul. The best I can do to explain is to say that he is the force of my will that could no longer be contained when Byakuya-sama was threatened after saving me. He carries and wields that part of my own power that my body wasn't strong enough to tolerate."

"That is fascinating," Aizen said appreciatively, "Can you tell me, do you have any natural abilities that are not reiatsu based?"

"Yes. I can breathe in water and although I am uncomfortable in the cold, I will not freeze to death. I can also cause things...or enemies to freeze from the inside out if I pierce them with any weapon."

"Hmm, as I said, fascinating, but nothing I've heard explains what happened when your cousin stabbed you."

"I told you, I don't know exactly what happened. I think Arashi may have done something, but I can't ask him, because he disappeared and I have not been able to speak with him in my mind as we can usually do. I don't think he was killed. Orochi would have made fun of it if Arashi was dead. He may be in our inner world, but I can't enter it while I am under the bonds Orochi placed on me."

"Well, you did break them before."

"I don't know if I can simply do that. Before, my life and Byakuya-sama's were threatened."

"I think that your lives are in significant danger now," Aizen suggested, "After all, your cousin first tried to kill you, and now has taken you out of the picture. Have you asked yourself why, Tetsuya?"

Tetsuya's insides clenched painfully.

"You think he is going to hurt Byakuya-sama?" he asked urgently.

"It makes sense. He took advantage of the conditions of wartime to take you from Byakuya's side, and now Byakuya has less protection around him."

"You're right!" Tetsuya exclaimed, struggling, "I have to get out of here!"

"Struggling that way won't help," Aizen advised him, "What you have told me suggests that what we need to do is to try to create a trigger for the release of your powers. I think you can break the bonds holding them back. You just need the right stimulus."

"And how do we do that?" Tetsuya asked stridently.

"Why don't you let me work on that question while you rest and try to build up your strength?"

"You really think I can do this?" Tetsuya asked.

"It isn't a matter of what I, or anyone else thinks," Aizen said with certainty, "The simple fact is...you can."


	4. New Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Tetsuya's friends and family mourn him, he and Aizen work on their escape plans.

Tetsuya came awake again to the now familiar chill of finding himself still bound tightly and lying in darkness, uncomfortably near the nameless criminal who had promised to help him escape. He wasn't sure how to address the man, so he turned his attention to testing his restraints carefully for any weakness he could exploit. Finding none, he turned his mind again to the puzzle of how he had once broken such restraints and freed his powers.

_I was in fear for my life and for Byakuya-sama's, he remembered, Death came for us, and my mind froze in that moment. I knew that I hadn't waited all of that time for Byakuya-sama to arrive, so that he could die in front of me. No, I had survived for more than that. In that moment, I just knew. I just acted...and the bonds shattered._

He turned his focus inward, trying to sense the condition of his spirit centers.

_It is hard to see inside oneself like this, but it does seem that my spirit centers are very sensitive, and probably it is the resultant stress of whatever was done to subdue me._

He flinched as he remembered standing outside the barrier that protected the Kuchiki family from the quincy invaders.

_An odd flicker of something being wrong made him stiffen and listen closely. He heard a soft footstep and turned. Instantly, his eyes widened in distress._

_"Orochi!" he gasped, raising his weapon to meet the one that crashed down onto it, "What are you doing? Stop!"_

Tetsuya jolted out of the memory, panting softly and even though he couldn't see, he felt that the other man was awake and aware of his discomfort.

"Are you all right?" the man asked.

"I was just remembering," Tetsuya said softly, "It was shocking when I realized that it wasn't the quincies who were attacking me and the others guarding the family."

"It was your cousin, Orochi," Aizen said, sounding certain.

"Yes," Tetsuya confirmed, "and once I knew it for the betrayal it was, I felt that same desperation that I felt when Byakuya-sama was trying to help me escape, and we were about to be killed."

"Are you saying that he cast some kind of bindings on you, and you broke them?"

Tetsuya paused, straining to remember.

"I wasn't bound...just...frozen. Orochi's power is a snake that uses poisons. It was poison that just froze me in place so that he was able to impale my heart."

"Hmm," the other man mused, "But if he could use poison, why not just kill you with that?"

"It would be traceable as the cause of my death," Tetsuya explained, "The one that freezes, dissipates as it wears off. The one that kills must remain for a longer time to ensure death. Besides, Orochi knows that I know how to alter my waterform ability, using the command Shussui to slow the advance of poisons in my systems."

"A useful power, to be sure. You didn't mention it before," Aizen said quietly, "Is there more about you that you haven't said? Because I haven't heard anything from you that explains why you were able to avoid injury when your cousin impaled you. You told me before that you couldn't shift between waterforms at that moment and you don't remember doing anything."

"I heard my stallion, Arashi, scream when Orochi struck," Tetsuya remembered, "and I did feel a great burning inside. But I thought that it was just the sword cutting into me."

"You felt it in your heart?" Aizen inquired curiously.

"Yes," Tetsuya confirmed, "It felt like it radiated out from my heart. I didn't think it was a power..."

"But," Aizen concluded, "even if it wasn't a power you were manifesting, it could have been the beginnings of one."

"You think that...?"

"You were in desperate situation," Aizen recounted, "You could not move and your familiar could not stop the attack, correct?"

"That's right."

"Did you feel any other effects? Any increase in light or reiatsu around you? A change in the temperature? Something you saw, felt, heard or tasted?"

"It did seem to grow brighter," Tetsuya recalled, "So bright that my eyes went hazy. I thought at the time, I was just passing out because I was fatally struck and dying."

"But you may have been responding to your desperation with either a previously undiscovered application of your powers...or a greater one."

"But I already have three manifestations of bankai," Tetsuya mused, "If I keep the water liquid in bankai, it spins and makes a cyclone. If I compact the individual waterforms, they become tiny, powerful blades and can either spin in a cyclone or be fired directly at something or someone. If I freeze and compact them all into one, they make an ice blade that causes freeze damage to whatever it touches. Byakuya-sama, himself, only has four manifestations of his bankai, and I am not as powerful or talented as he is."

"It may be a fourth manifestation of bankai or..."

Aizen paused, thinking.

"Tell me everything you felt when you woke here."

Tetsuya thought carefully.

"When I woke, my head was throbbing and I felt sick to my stomach. I reflexively tried to use my powers and the centers through which the power runs burned like fire."

"That would suggest two possibilities," Aizen posited, "One, that Orochi did something, used a poison or a power that caused these things as an after-effect. Or two, something happened inside you, a new protective power that you used without thought, perhaps that your zanpakutou knew about but hadn't instructed you in yet. Have you been able to speak to your zanpakutou?"

"No," Tetsuya answered, shivering, "I feel powerful head pain and my spirit centers burn when I try to enter my inner world. That's why I couldn't escape mentally when Orochi was r...er...hurting me."

"Do you know if Orochi's power is capable of causing any of these kinds of lasting effects that you have?" Aizen asked.

"I don't know of them being like that," Tetsuya replied, thinking harder, "He sometimes will send a snake into a target's body for longer term effects, but if someone discovers the presence of the snake, he would be vulnerable to identification. Still, I don't know very much about that application of his powers. I suppose it's possible that he used a power on me."

"Except that doesn't mesh with what happened. He says he stabbed you in the heart and you weren't affected. He doesn't say that he then used another power or method that failed."

"That's true," Tetsuya agreed, "So, you think that I am developing some other power?"

"I think that is the most likely answer," Aizen confirmed, "And maybe exploring that is an avenue to both of us escaping this place. Now, I have been thinking. Have you tried to freeze your bonds, then shatter them?"

"I have tried," Tetsuya said solemnly, "but freezing to the extent needed to shatter them takes more power than I can manage when bound like this. Normal bonds wouldn't hold me, but Orochi knew to make these invulnerable to my freezing ability. He is not a stupid man."

"Except that he underestimated you," Aizen chuckled, "That is why we are going to escape."

"You sound so sure," Tetsuya said uncertainly, "What makes you feel that way?"

Aizen paused, then loosed an answer that sent shivers up and down Tetsuya's restrained body.

"Fate. I feel very much that fate has brought us together, Tetsuya."

XXXXXXXXXX

Ichigo returned slowly to wakefulness and became aware that something was pressed up against his back and purring contentedly.

_I didn't know Byakuya kept cats around. He sure doesn't want Yoruichi hanging out here. Wait, is this...her?_

He scowled as he turned over and started to push the intruder away.

"Yoruichi, you should know that I don't...!"

He broke off as he found himself facing a surprised and extremely sleepy looking Grimmjow.

"What the hell?" he grumbled, "What're you yelling about? You're going to wake up the whole damned planet with that noise! You wanna get us kicked outta here, stupid?"

"Hey!" Ichigo objected, sitting up, "I said no touching! You were all pressed up against my back...and you have a hard on!"

"What?" the hollow exclaimed, "No shit, I have a hard on. You have a hard on. Every guy has a fucking hard on in the morning. I can't help that. And I didn't decide to curl up with you. I guess I was cold in my sleep. Sheesh, you little prude! Fine, I'll go back to my room. But I wasn't trying anything. I was asleep."

"Huh," Ichigo huffed, blushing, "You were purring and holding onto me like a stuffed toy. Do you sleep with one at home?"

"What? What the hell?" Grimmjow said in a startled tone, "No, I don't sleep with a stuffed toy."

"Are you sure? You seemed to like squeezing me."

"What do you expect, being all warm and dressed in soft clothes. I mistook you for a lumpy pillow."

"Yeah, right."

Ichigo looked up at Grimmjow's back as the hollow climbed out of the bed and started towards the door.

"Hey uh, thanks, Grimmjow," he said tentatively, "I did sleep better last night after you decided to stay."

"Great thanks I get for that, getting snapped at before I'm all the way awake and kicked outta bed," Grimmjow complained, "I think you need ol' Byakuya to give you some lessons in manners."

"Yeah? I'd say you need'em more than I do," Ichigo said, scowling.

"Hey, I offered to help you sleep, didn't I? I coulda just yelled at you."

"You did, at first," Ichigo pointed out, smirking.

"I...you...you know what, just shut up, okay? I've got better things to do than sit here and get accused of molesting you."

"Oh yeah, what? Everything's blown to crap here and in Hueco Mundo. What are you gonna be doing? Clean up? That's better than sleeping with me? I think I'm offended," Ichigo joked.

"I wasn't sleeping with you, you moron!" Grimmjow snapped back irascibly, "I got shoved out of bed and yelled at for nothing!"

"Sorry, I just don't have cats at home, so the cuddling and purring surprised me," Ichigo teased.

"Pfft!" Grimmjow hissed, "Whatever, I'm outta here."

Ichigo watched as the hollow disappeared out the garden doors, then he piled up the pillows behind him and sighed softly, looking out into the partially restored gardens.

"Man," he whispered, shaking his head sadly, "It's going to be weird not seeing Tetsuya and Arashi around here. So many other people died too. It's awful. Things are never going to be the same."

He heard a soft footstep and spotted a youthful male attendant.

"Hey Akio," he greeted the attendant, "How is Koji doing this morning? He was pretty broken up about Tetsuya."

"Yes, he has served Tetsuya-san ever since Byakuya-sama rescued him and brought him to Kuchiki Manor."

"That's got to be tough," Ichigo said sympathetically, "Tetsuya was pretty special. And Arashi was just cute, even when he teased the hell out of Renji and me."

"He did love to do that," Akio agreed, brushing away a tear, "I think all of us will miss them both terribly."

"Yeah."

Akio was quiet, just watching as Ichigo looked out into the gardens, contemplating without words for several minutes.

"Ichigo-sama," he said finally, "would you like me to bring you breakfast in privacy or do you feel like joining Rukia-chan, Renji-san and Byakuya-sama in the gardens?"

Ichigo smiled.

"I'll go out and have breakfast with the others," he decided, "I think that's best, don't you? We're all kinda thinking the same things...missing the same lost friends. We've been through a lot."

"Yes," Akio agreed, "we have. Very well, breakfast will be set out in an hour."

"That's late," Ichigo noted, "Not that I'm overly hungry, but isn't Byakuya up earlier usually?"

"Yes," Akio said, his head bowing, "but when he rose early, it was to meet Tetsuya-san for training in the large field, by the lake. He is sleeping late today...for the first time in years."

"Mmm," Ichigo sighed, curling his arms around his bent knees and setting his chin on them, "He sounds bad. It's good he's got Renji taking care of him. Byakuya pretends to be not affected by things a lot, but..."

"But there is much that he experiences that no one sees...except perhaps, Renji-san. He has a lot of insight into Byakuya-sama's thinking."

"Yeah," Ichigo agreed, his smile fading slightly, "Loving someone makes that happen, doesn't it?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Renji laid, wrapped around Byakuya's curled, sleeping form, his face resting against the noble's cheek and pillowed on soft, sakura scented hair. His fingers remained as they had been all night, laced together with Byakuya's and moving gently now and then, as though to remind his sleeping friend that he was still there. Byakuya took a deeper breath and opened his eyes, then squinted in the too bright morning light and groaned.

"Regretting drinking all that sake last night?" he chuckled, sitting up with Byakuya and taking a position behind him. He rubbed the noble's temples gently and kissed him on a warm, flushed cheek.

"I think it's a little useless to waste time with regret, and right now, I haven't the energy for it."

Torio stepped into the room, bearing a tea tray, and Byakuya grimaced and turned away.

"Please, not now, Torio."

"It's ginger tea," the attendant said in a quiet, careful voice, "It should calm your stomach."

"Ah, arigatou," Byakuya managed, taking the cup from the tray and sipping at it, "It is good. Thank you, Torio."

"Do you think that you'll be feeling up to some breakfast?" Renji asked.

"Give me a few minutes," Byakuya sighed, "until my head stops spinning and my stomach stops turning. I suppose I should eat something. But make it plain, just rice and nothing spicy with it."

"Sheesh, you must be feeling awful," Renji commented, "If you're passing up spicy food."

"You have no idea," Byakuya said, shaking his head.

"I will go and see to your breakfast, sir," Torio said, bowing.

"Wait," Byakuya said, stopping the young man and making him look back questioningly, "Torio, how is your brother?"

"Koji," Torio answered, his voice betraying a note of sadness, "He is coping. He is up and about today, but he's very quiet. He isn't himself."

"And who would be?" Byakuya said sympathetically, "Would you like me to speak with him?"

"Do you think it will help?" Torio asked, "I don't know what might help him feel better. His world was built around serving Tetsuya-san."

"Do you think it would help to have him see Tetsuya's adoptive family?"

"Sadao-san and Mai-san?" Torio considered, "They are also very much missing Tetsuya-san. Maybe it could help."

Byakuya nodded.

"I was thinking of having him stay with Sadao and Mai to help out with things. I learned that their daughter, Tetsuya's sister, Aratani, lost her husband in the war, and that she is about to have their child. She is staying at Sadao and Mai's home for the birth, but perhaps that would give him something to focus on."

"Maybe," Torio said, considering, "Would you like me to ask him?"

"Hmm," Byakuya said, thinking quietly for a moment, "Send him to me. I will talk to him."

He paused and rolled his eyes, wincing as a hell butterfly flitted into the room.

"Ah...just a moment," he said, nodding at the fluttering insect.

Byakuya, said the stately male voice of the head elder of the kuchiki clan council, we wish to say again how very sorry we are for the loss of our cousin and kinsman, Tetsuya. We are very concerned that his absence may compromise your safety and have added to this morning's meeting agenda a discussion of how to address security at Kuchiki Manor during the rebuilding and beyond.

"Oh..." Byakuya groaned, rubbing his temples, then sighing in relief as Renji took over rubbing them, "It slipped my mind that there was a meeting. I don't know how..."

"I do," Renji said, hugging him from behind and resting his chin on Byakuya's shoulder, "You're really stressed out. Maybe you should just tell them you're not up to it."

"Perhaps," Byakuya said, considering, "but...he is right that security is a concern. The measures Tetsuya put in place are still functioning, but we do need to consider the possible dangers presented by having additional people on manor grounds during the rebuilding."

"You want me to help with that?" the redhead asked, "It's the kind of thing I do all of the time at the office."

Byakuya turned the idea over in his recovering mind and slowly nodded his approval.

"I think your expertise would be a good thing. We don't have time or resources for searching for a trusted person. You're already both experienced and trusted. I will present that to the elders."

"But you'd better get dressed now if you want to eat and get there on time," Renji said, shaking his head.

"Yes," Byakuya said wearily, "Torio, do you mind?"

"Not at all, Byakuya-sama. Your clothing is already prepared."

"Hmm, it is good that my own muddled thinking is mitigated by capable staff," he complimented his attendant.

"You are mourning Tetsuya-san," Torio reasoned, "and it seems there is little we can do but try to ease what burdens we can, sir."

"Again, arigatou, Torio."

Byakuya slid out of the bed, but went still a moment later as Koji appeared in the doorway, his eyes still red and unbearably sad.

"Koji?" Byakuya inquired.

"I've come to assist Renji-san with his uniform, sir," the attendant said solemnly.

"Aw, you don't have to do that," Renji said, giving him a sympathetic smile, "I know you're going through a rough time."

"But it's good to be able to help someone," Koji insisted, smiling tentatively, "and you are...were...a good friend of Tetsuya-san's."

Renji gave him a gentle look of reproach.

"Hey, I'm not just Tetsuya's friend," he said standing and reaching out to squeeze Koji's hand, "I'm your friend too. I hope you know that."

Fresh tears rose in Koji's eyes, but he blinked them back and cleared his throat softly.

"Thank you, Renji-san. If you please, I will dress you now."

"Thanks, Koji," Renji said, following the attendant into the dressing area.

Thank you, Renji, Byakuya mouthed as he joined Renji and the attendants, He needs you.

The rest, he thought, went without saying, but he touched Renji's hand in a gesture that spoke volumes.

_I don't know what any of us would do without you._


	5. Dark Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aizen and Tetsuya make their escape.

"So, why are you taking me along to this meeting?" Renji asked, "Do you think your elders are gonna have a problem with me taking over Tetsuya's job?"

"I think they would be wary of whoever was recommended for a position so close to their leader," Byakuya answered, leading Renji through the courtyard and out onto the quiet street.

They continued on, past buildings and homes that stood in various states of repair as building crews worked tirelessly to restore them.

"They are going to see quickly that you are an obvious choice as you are familiar with me and you already act as a close protector. There shouldn't be any dissent. This is more of a formality."

"Huh, and are you planning on telling them that we're kinda dating now?" Renji asked, smirking.

"Hmm," Byakuya mused, slipping a hand into Renji's, "I don't know if you're ready for me to give them a formal declaration of a courtship. Are you sure you want to be tangled up in that, Renji? While the elders cannot tell me who to see romantically, I do have certain commitments as leader. While I would love for us to be able to just let things develop as they will, clan courtships are more complicated."

Renji gave him an amused frown.

"Are you saying you don't want to date me?" he asked, sounding offended, "Cause, from what you said before..."

"I am saying no such thing," Byakuya answered in an unruffled tone, "I am only warning you that we aren't going to be able to just see where it goes. If I approach the elders about formally seeing you, then it is with the intention of being married. I think maybe you'd prefer we say nothing to them until we are ready to take that step."

"You think they're not gonna figure it out themselves?" Renji mused, "But I guess you're right we probably need some time to just enjoy things the way they are."

"I agree. We have all been through a lot. We need to move slowly and take a few breaths before plunging into anything too deeply."

"Is that your way of telling me that we shouldn't have sex yet?" Renji teased gently, tickling Byakuya's palm and laughing softly at the resulting blush it brought on.

"You certainly aren't subtle, are you?" Byakuya said, shaking his head, "To be honest, I do want us to progress sexually too."

"Hey, I was just joking around with you," Renji objected, "There's no rush if you wanna take things slowly."

Byakuya gave him a very slight smirk.

"I think we should handle this the way I handle your training. You do what feels natural to you..."

Renji grinned widely.

"And you'll hurt me if I do something you don't like?" he laughed.

"I will indicate my comfort level with what you do," Byakuya corrected him in an amused tone.

"Well, what if I don't want to be putting myself out there and risking you rejecting me?" Renji complained.

"Let me explain in a different way," Byakuya offered, "You are a naturally impulsive person, while I am one who thinks things through, sometimes to a fault. If you follow your instincts and lead me, with me indicating what is comfortable, we will progress more steadily than if you have to wait for me to think everything through first. I am just suggesting a strategy that uses both our strengths in tandem."

"You make it sound like a battlefield strategy," Renji chuckled.

"There are many similarities," Byakuya agreed.

"Well, you're the master strategist, so we'll go with your idea," the redhead decided, curling an arm around Byakuya's waist and pulling him into a copse of trees, where he pushed the noble up against a tree and invaded his mouth hungrily. His heart raced and his loins throbbed viciously as he felt Byakuya return several powerful kisses, before pushing him away and brushing the fallen leaves from his clothes.

"We need to continue walking before we're late," he stated primly.

"Yeah, and you'd better hope it's a long enough walk so we'll get the blush off our faces or those old farts will know something's up!" Renji laughed.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Are you awake, Tetsuya?" Aizen asked, bringing the younger man out of the haze his mind had slipped into to ward off the darkness and cold.

Tetsuya shivered under his bonds.

"I am awake."

"I think I may have an idea."

"Okay..."

"I know that your powers are held back, but that only means that your reiatsu is gathered around you. You were weakened and haven't yet recovered from what happened when your cousin attacked you, but you still have certain abilities that haven't been effected, by nature of the fact that they require little to no reiatsu exchange, right?"

"That is true," Tetsuya agreed.

"The problem we have is that we can't use our powers together because we can't touch. But...you can make water? Rain?" Aizen inquired.

"I can usually make rain," Tetsuya corrected him, "I don't have the strength for rain right now."

"But could you make droplets of water, perhaps on your fingertips?"

"I think so. Why?"

"I believe if you can make a puddle of water beneath you and it comes a bit in my direction, it can touch me. The water will eventually leak through tiny openings in my bindings," Aizen explained.

"But, what good is that?" Tetsuya asked, frowning, "Once the water is out of my range, I will lose my connection with it."

"That is true," Aizen admitted, "however, water is highly conductive, and if the water runs between us, I should be able to use my power to provoke you."

"What does that mean?" Tetsuya asked anxiously, "What are you going to do?"

"Nothing that will hurt you," Aizen said soothingly, "One of my abilities will allow me to return you very briefly to the moment you discovered your powers and released the stallion you told me about. If I do that, it should trigger you and you will do so again."

"But how can I when I am still not recovered? What power...?"

"I will explain in more detail later, if you wish, but you know that your cousin is still plotting. And with every moment, we risk him returning and perhaps taking you elsewhere, which would put an end to any hope of escape for us. I know you still have questions about me, but I'm sure you can see the necessity of us working together."

"But...you're sure that I will be able to break our bonds?" Tetsuya asked warily.

"Yes," Aizen said firmly, "Trust me, Tetsuya, this strategy will work. Now, I need you to begin making water, as much as you can."

Tetsuya hesitated.

_I know this man is dangerous. I don't know if he should be loosed on Soul Society. But if I don't free him, I know I can't escape these bonds. It's a maddening decision, but Byakuya-sama is definitely in danger from Orochi and his father, as well as some others who worked with them on the plot to kill me. I have to protect Byakuya-sama._

_And...there is something I can do to make sure that this man does not deceive me and harm me as soon as he is free._

"Very well," Tetsuya answered, relaxing his body and turning his focus inward.

His spirit centers ached and burned fiercely at even that small usage, but Tetsuya managed a smile as he felt moisture begin to build on his skin. He breathed slowly, keeping his body calm and relaxed, letting the moisture grow into droplets and feeling a throb of hope swell inside as the first drops rolled down and fell from his fingertips onto the floor beneath him.

_But it will take so long to do this! I can only hope that Orochi remains too intimidated to return, and that he doesn't bring back others and take me away as that man said he might. It would be like Orochi to do that. He has always been strangely provoked by me. I don't know what I ever did to make him that way or why he focused all of that on me._

"Focus, Tetsuya," Aizen said quietly, "It seemed the power emanating from you started to fade slightly.

"Sorry," Tetsuya apologized, returning his thoughts to the matter at hand.

_I know that my emotions are a large part of this power. If I tap into my darker emotions, then maybe I will be able to create more water. I must be cautious, though, not to overtax my body before he invokes whatever power he will use._

Tetsuya took a steadying breath and brought to mind the darkness in his past, reliving slowly, the long years of his incarceration and the horrible cruelty his cousin had subjected him to. Gradually, the intense emotion gathered like rain inside him and began to slide down his shaking arms.

"Be careful, Tetsuya," Aizen warned him, "Too much force and you could damage yourself. My power will undo the need for that kind of caution, but you must reach me first."

"I understand," Tetsuya answered, quivering as he worked to control the release of the much larger droplets.

With time, the initial pain of what he was doing began to fade and the water welled up more easily and slid down in little streams. The pool underneath his restrained body widened, and he coaxed the edge nearest the other prisoner into moving towards him. The growing pool thickened and extended, slowly meandering across the space between the two prisoners and finally reaching Aizen.

Aizen loosed a low groan of relief as he felt the water begin to soak into his bonds. He waited until he could just feel Tetsuya's presence through the watery connection.

"I am going to test the connection," he warned Tetsuya, "Relax and allow this."

Tetsuya forced the rising tension out of his body and waited silently as the other prisoner's power began to hum and throb warningly, then suddenly flashed through the connection, sending Tetsuya's mind into a gripping illusion.

"Tell me what you sense," Aizen directed him.

"I am lying on my back in a starlit field, under a full moon," Tetsuya answered, "It's like I'm really there! Everything...the air smells fresh. I feel the breeze..."

"Good," Aizen said approvingly, "Now, I am going to take you back. I apologize if this will be difficult for you, but..."

"You are thinking that if you put me back in that moment, it could cause me to release my powers here, right?"

"Exactly," Aizen confirmed, "Relax as much as you can now. I am going to begin."

Tetsuya shivered involuntarily, but forced his wary body to obey. The other prisoner's power flashed again, passing through the fallen water and taking control of Tetsuya's senses.

_He found himself suddenly dropped back into his thin, dirty more youthful body and being dragged to his feet by Byakuya. He stole a glance at his teen cousin and felt an inward shock at seeing Naoki's limp body slung over Byakuya's shoulder._

_"Come on!" Byakuya cried, "Follow me!"_

_He forced his aching legs into a stumbling run, barely keeping pace as he and Byakuya fled amidst blazing fires and blasts of incoming kido._

_"W-we won't make it! There are...t-too many g-guards!" he panted._

_"We'll be all right. Just keep running!" Byakuya encouraged him, "It's not much farther, Tetsuya."_

_Something about hearing such care, such concern in the other youth's voice brought tears to his eyes. He felt new swells of even deeper gratitude, but held back speaking so that his effort was all spent on escape. They reached a small rise and ran onto it, then Byakuya skidded to a stop, letting Naoki fall to the ground and raising his hands in reaction as four heavily armed guards appeared in front of them._

_It was all too clear Byakuya couldn't react quickly enough to save them._

_Fear rose up like a stone wall around him and he felt oncoming panic, but deep inside his chest, something else burned, so painfully, but with the promise of rescue. Tetsuya knew better than to hesitate. He closed his eyes and let the rising power roar through his thin body and out to fire itself at the threat in front of them. He heard the scream of a stallion and the ground shook with the pounding of hooves. The power loosed in their direction crashed harmlessly against the tall beast that had appeared between them. The stallion screamed again and released a blast of what looked like hailstones, but it cut through the guard's defenses, through even their heavy armor, scattering them on the ground in front of Byakuya and Tetsuya and leaving the two teens staring in disbelief._

"Tetsuya, you've done it!" the other prisoner's voice hissed, bringing him suddenly back to the dark cell, "I am free!"

Tetsuya moved cautiously and felt pain crack across his mind, coursing through his strained body and ripping a scream of agony from his chest. He heard footsteps and splashing water, then someone knelt beside him, tearing away the last of the broken bonds and examining him closely.

"I c-can't move!" Tetsuya gasped, "I can't see!"

"You've had a horrid shock to your body. Don't worry, I can get us out of here now."

The other prisoner lifted him, and Tetsuya felt the man's power curl around them. He looped his arms around the other man's neck and rested his head on a muscular shoulder. In some part of his stunned mind, he realized that the man was simply carrying him past the guard posts, and that the guards greeted him as though they knew him, simply letting him pass through, from level to level until they reached the surface. He carried them outside, then stopped within the cover of some thick bushes, setting Tetsuya carefully on his feet and gently sealing his burning spirit centers to allow them to heal. Tetsuya remained leaned heavily against the man's shoulder, breathing harshly and struggling to keep his shaky legs from collapsing.

"We are free," Aizen said quietly, touching his cheek with soft fingertips, "Will you look at my face now?"

Tetsuya's eyes blinked and he lifted his chin, taking in the other man's wickedly handsome and devastatingly familiar face, the wicked smirk, dangerous brown eyes and the telling curl of brown hair that trickled down onto his forehead.

_Aizen Sousuke?_

_I've freed Aizen Sousuke?_

His body went instantly numb with horror, and he felt the beginning of the man's power and took the only action that he could.

Aizen's eyes registered curiosity for a moment, then disappeared into a roar of water. Both men felt themselves jerked away from the place just outside the Central 46 prison and thrown down roughly onto unforgiving ground. The impact stole what was left of Tetsuya's reeling senses and left him unconscious beside Aizen.

Aizen sat up slowly, frowning with curiosity at what appeared to be a huge library. Everything around them looked clean and fastidiously well kept, from the tall bookshelves that ran from floor to ceiling, to the dust free furnishings and lovely display cases. He climbed to his feet and left Tetsuya collapsed on the floor behind him as he moved towards one of the display cases and reached out to touch the smooth glass surface of the case.

Instantly, the case glowed brightly and a protective kido snapped into place. The glow extended and slowly enveloped all of the books and other items in the library. Aizen's lips curved upward and he glanced back at Tetsuya's fallen form.

"This is...the Kuchiki family archive?" he whispered, "Interesting..."

He walked back to Tetsuya and glared down at him.

"I suppose that you would only have brought me here if, first, the materials were protected from me and second, that I couldn't escape. You probably concluded when you recognized me that I was going to kill you. I wasn't. I have another use for you, but I have to speak my appreciation of your intelligence in acting quickly and successfully capturing me here. We'll undo that situation when you wake...but for now..."

He picked Tetsuya up and located a recess that had been made into a bedroom, likely, he concluded, for the master to sleep in when taking breaks from exhaustive study and research. He laid Tetsuya in the bed and used a powerful kido spell to bind his wrists together and lash them to the thick iron rail at the head of the bed. Then, he bound each slender foot to the rail at the bottom of the bed, before sitting down on the edge of the bed and leaning over Tetsuya to set a soft scarf he found over the young man's eyes. He patted Tetsuya's comely face to wake him.

Tetsuya stirred and groaned at the return of pain that seemed to radiate everywhere. And even more disturbing was the sudden realization he was carefully bound and blindfolded.

"What are you doing?" he asked in a shaky voice, "I helped you get free!"

"Let's not start our association with lies, Tetsuya," Aizen said sedately, "I know where you've brought me. I know I can't touch the resources here and that I can't leave. When you saw me, you thought I was going to kill you and leave, didn't you?"

"I-isn't that what you were going to do?" Tetsuya asked.

"No. Your powers interest me, and I would like some time to explore them. I have no interest in destroying you. I want to understand you...scientifically."

"You want to use me as a guinea pig?" Tetsuya asked, his voice shaking harder.

"I want to understand why your cousin's attack failed to kill you," Aizen corrected him.

"I don't have time for that!" Tetsuya exclaimed, "Byakuya-sama is in danger! I have to..."

"You are as trapped, Tetsuya, as I am," Aizen said firmly, "Now, I know you will have both a way to let me access the books and materials here, and you have the means to allow me to leave. I want both of those things."

"I am not doing anything for you unless my cousin is protected!" Tetsuya snapped angrily, "I don't care what you do to me. It doesn't matter. Just...Byakuya-sama needs protection from the ones in the family who are trying to hurt him!"

"I see," Aizen said, a wicked smile overtaking his lips, "You are offering a compromise?"

"One that is solely based on what happens to my cousin," Tetsuya insisted.

"Very well, tell me your terms, Tetsuya," Aizen invited him.

"I have no powers to protect Byakuya-sama with," Tetsuya reasoned, "But your powers are fully freed. Use them to protect my cousin."

"And in return...?"

"In return...I will allow you to access the books and items I can. I can't help you enter the protected vault or to use the door that leads into the royal realm. Even Byakuya-sama can't grant use of those to another. It is for the protection of the king and Soul Society."

"Very well...and?"

"I will allow you to leave when you are done examining me," Tetsuya promised.

Aizen's eyes darkened and his smile deepened.

"Oh, I think I want more than that," he answered.

"I don't understand," Tetsuya said hesitantly, "What more do you want? You have your freedom, access to the archive and you are free to explore me to understand my powers. You have me bound, but you gain nothing by trying to force me to give everything."

"I don't think your position is as strong as you think," Aizen whispered into Tetsuya's ear, making the soft shell blush, "You see, I am not really trapped. I only need to wait until your cousin come inside, and I can use him to escape...and kill him and walk out of here without having to make any kind of deal with you."

"Then, why offer me a choice at all?" Tetsuya mused, "If you can just take what you want..."

"But then, you would be a simple hostage. I would have to concern myself with you trying to escape. I would much rather have you in no position to leave, Tetsuya. Now, here are the terms. I will end the threat to Byakuya and I will leave protection in place for him. In return, you will allow me to use the resources here and you will allow me to enter and leave at will. You will also...give yourself over to me completely."

"I...!"

"Oh, I don't mean I'll force you sexually, Tetsuya...although I would like it if we eventually became lovers. What I mean is that you will be tied to me permanently and subject to my will without question."

"I won't deceive and kill people for you!" Tetsuya exclaimed, "I could never...!"

"I will do my own killing," Aizen agreed, "But...you will not try to escape me, you will not defy me, and you will not refuse my orders."

"As long as Byakuya-sama is protected?"

"As long as Byakuya is protected," Aizen agreed, "So, do we have an agreement? Or do you perhaps need time to think?"

Tetsuya shivered at the thought of his probable future, then let out a long breath of resignation.

"I agree to your terms," he said softly.

Aizen watched approvingly as the heavy glow around the books and display cases in the archive slowly vanished.

"Will you let me up now?" Tetsuya asked.

"No," Aizen said, smirking, "I think it's better if you stay here. Start showing me how committed you are. And I want you to heal as quickly as possible so that I can conduct tests of your power."

"But...?"

"Oh, I will be back in a while with some food. I saw a kitchen in the next recess."

"But Byakuya-sama!"

"He will be protected. Relax. Sleep, Tetsuya. You have nothing left to fear."

"You're crazy if you really believe that!" Tetsuya hissed angrily.

"I am not crazy, Tetsuya, I am determined," Aizen said, rising from the bed and leaving the Tetsuya blindfolded and tightly bound.


	6. Separation Anxiety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byakuya chooses Renji as his new head of house security, but allows the elders to name Orochi his personal bodyguard. Meanwhile, Aizen allows Tetsuya limited closeness to Byakuya to ease his homesickness.

"Byakuya," the head elder, "let me begin by saying once again how glad we are that you returned to us safely. We all feel very much the loss of our kinsman, Tetsuya, and so this meeting is meant to ensure that you have the protection that he would want you to have."

"Thank you, Nori," Byakuya said gratefully, looking around the meeting chamber and noting the several areas where damage to the room's walls and decor were still in the midst of being repaired, "I appreciate the council's commendation of Tetsuya for high family honors in death and I assure you, I do know the importance of seeing to my protection, especially now, in the wake of the war, when there are still some attacks taking place from small groups of quincies who are desperate and just looking to be disruptive."

"That is good, my boy," Nori said kindly, "It will be helpful that you understand the necessity of what we're trying to do. You need the best protection, so the council gave a lot of consideration and we have decided that your cousin, Kuchiki Orochi is the best candidate to see to your protection."

"Orochi," Byakuya repeated, carefully hiding his disgust at the very idea.

"Yes," Nori went on, "Orochi is the most promising of our clan youth. He is trained to fight and has reached bankai. He will be a suitable protector for you."

Byakuya glanced at his black-eyed cousin, who gave him a sly smirk.

"He does have the power necessary for the job of protecting me," Byakuya agreed, "but Orochi achieved his bankai more recently. I think he may need more time to develop it."

Orochi's eyes darkened and his reiatsu flared softly.

"He is young and sometimes impulsive and he has shown a disinterest in the past in carrying out orders."

He met Orochi's eyes in challenge.

"Besides, there is someone close to me, someone with exceptional power, who has a well developed bankai, who has mountains of battle experience and knows me well. He works perfectly in tandem with me and obeys orders quickly and without hesitation. There is trust between us. He really is the best candidate, and he is willing to take the position."

Byakuya indicated Renji and Renji stood and met the eyes of the council warmly, not failing to notice the wicked looks he got from Orochi and his father, as well as a couple of the other elders.

"You would choose a mongrel from the Rukongai over a pureblood clan member?" Isas scolded him, "Where is your pride, Byakuya?"

"This is not a matter of pride alone, but a matter of who is most fit to see to my protection. You have all just indicated both your appreciation for Tetsuya's unparalleled performance, as well as a desire to provide me with the most capable defender. Should it matter if that defender was not raised in the family, or that he is not a noble? Isn't it more important that he be the best candidate?"

"But I understand that Abarai Renji is to take the taichou's examination soon," a slim, almost feminine looking young elder named Sora interjected.

"He has a point," Isas added, "Abarai is talented and sure to become a taichou. Who then will be about the manor, making sure that there are no incidences?"

"I agree," said Elder Arisu, her stern green eyes studying Renji appraisingly, "Tetsuya was not in the military, and so was able to focus all of his attention on your safety. As talented as I'm sure Abarai Renji is, he can't overcome what he isn't here to see."

"I think both sides make good arguments," Nori said, considering, "So, why don't we consider placing Abarai Renji in charge of house security and making Orochi Byakuya's personal bodyguard?"

"I think that we should also allow Orochi to enter the military as Byakuya's fukutaichou, when Abarai advances," Arisu added.

"That is a very good suggestion," Isas agreed.

The gathered councilors glanced at each other and began smaller discussions in groups of two or three.

"That's not so good," Renji mused, shaking his head, "but it'll be hard for him to stab you in the back while you're on guard. And I'll be there when you sleep, so..."

"Will you, Renji?" Byakuya whispered, smirking meaningfully.

"If you want me there, I'm there," Renji answered, giving Byakuya a smile the others couldn't see, "But seriously, are you sure you want to go along with that? Having him at your back so much of the time?"

"Well, they do say as a strategy, you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer. This could have some advantages."

"If you say so," Renji said, shaking his head, "but you need to be careful."

"I am always careful."

"Not that being careful is enough for troublemakers like us, ne?" Renji chuckled.

"True," Byakuya agreed, looking amused.

The two watched as the council deliberated and then quieted as Nori called them together and took a vote.

"The motion has passed," he said, after the vote was tallied, "Abarai Renji is the new head of house security and Orochi is Byakuya's personal bodyguard, soon to be named sixth division fukutaichou."

XXXXXXXXXX

Tetsuya shifted restlessly in his bonds, anxious at being left alone and unable to see anything around him. He heard intermittent sounds from within the archive, slow footsteps and the slide of a chair on the floor, books creaking open or closing, a heavy sigh or sound of piqued interest, a swish of cloth or the passing of a draft. He broke into a sweat at the flickers of dark memories it caused and his heart raced unnaturally quickly. Unable to do anything to help his situation, he slipped into his dark inner world.

The always darkened and star filled sky soothed him somewhat, but for the first time, it seemed, there was no bright moon.

_I no longer belong to the cousin that saved me, so the moon that was his icon in my world, has set, maybe forever._

His heart ached with loneliness that only grew more palpable as he spotted Arashi's collapsed form near the edge of the dark lake where his zanpakutou spirit laid somewhere beneath the surface, recovering.

_Whatever happened when Orochi stabbed me in the heart caused an outlay of power the likes of which I have never used or even thought I possessed. It burned through my spirit centers, leaving me powerless. I think the powerlessness will fade as my body heals, but I have never used whatever power that was except that one other time during the escape from Itamigiri...and then, I believe it was Arashi using the greater power, as I had not the strength nor the power to do so. I was nothing more than a prisoner and a slave then._

_And that is what I have become again._

_I swore I would rather have died than to give up my freedom, but I sold myself, heart and soul to protect the one person who did the most for me. Byakuya learned of my captivity and he rescued me. But he didn't stop there. He healed my body, heart and mind, then trained me to be strong and to never allow myself to be imprisoned in any way again._

_I wonder if he would be disappointed in me..._

Tetsuya sensed his name being spoken and someone touching his resting body. He left his inner world and returned to find that he was still bound and unable to see, but that he was sitting up against a pile of pillows and there was a tray of hot food in his lap.

"Please eat to regain your strength," Aizen said quietly.

Tetsuya gave no answer, but true to his word, obeyed the order. But his heart ached more fiercely, making even the savory food have no taste or warmth. It felt like rocks in his stomach and he was forced to abandon it after just a few bites. He set the tray aside and laid down, facing away. Some time later, Aizen returned and frowned at the barely touched meal.

"Tetsuya, you need to eat more than that to fuel the return of your powers," he commented.

"My stomach is turning too much," Tetsuya answered wearily, "That's all I can manage right now. If I try to eat more, I will only become ill."

"Hmm," Aizen mused, looking down at him.

Tetsuya felt the bed move, then flinched and made a sound of surprise as Aizen's warm body curled closely around his back and strong arms embraced him.

"What are you doing?" he asked in a spooked tone.

"I am tired and we are both a little lonely," Aizen suggested, "Your emotional state is important to your recovery, so I am providing some comfort. Don't worry, I won't touch you sexually, although..."

His lips touched the pale shell of an ear and his breath tickled the area, leaving it darkly flushed.

"You are a delectable temptation," he finished.

Tetsuya forced down a sharp reaction and made his stiffened form relax under Aizen's possessive arms.

"Well, you do own me," Tetsuya reminded him, trying hard to keep his voice from shaking, "I suppose you can do whatever you want and I can't stop you. But it's fine. I'm used to other people's cruelty."

"So, you won't let yourself be afraid of me?" Aizen mused, a little smile touching his lips.

"What use is fear when the thing you fear is so powerful that it could sweep your life away in a breath if it wanted to? One can only stand with the wind blazing all around and be grateful at not being destroyed instantly."

"You speak of me with such reverence," Aizen observed, smirking, "I am flattered, of course."

He made a line of kisses along the side of Tetsuya's soft, vulnerable throat and let his hands spread out on Tetsuya's soft belly. Tetsuya forced his trembling body to quiet and let himself be embraced. He felt something cold and smooth touch his back and an odd, slightly hissing voice sounded in his mind.

_Kuchiki Tetsuya?_

Tetsuya shivered, and Aizen's eyes opened and watched his face carefully.

Are you the hogyoku? Tetsuya thought back.

_I am. I am curious about you._

Tetsuya breathed slowly as he felt something like a powerful eye casting over him.

_You are different._

_How?_ Tetsuya wondered, _How am I different?_

_You have lost your will. You have become Aizen Sousuke's slave._

Tetsuya sighed.

_It was to save my cousin. For Byakuya-sama, I would die._

_To him, you have already died...a tragedy. He is heartbroken._

Tears formed in the corners of Tetsuya's eyes at the thought.

_How do you know?_

The hogyoku was silent for several long moments.

_I am aware of everyone around me. Your cousin is devastated at losing you. The house staff and attendants, especially your Koji, have shed many tears at losing you. There is despair in most of the eyes of the ones around Byakuya, but the eyes of Kuchiki Orochi have narrowed and focused on his downfall._

Tetsuya sighed.

_There's nothing I can do except hope that Aizen Sousuke will keep his word and stop Orochi. I have no power to interfere. I don't need to do anything. Aizen Sousuke brought down nearly all of the Gotei 13. He can handle my cousin._

Tetsuya's heart quickened at the silence that followed.

_But trusting him to keep his word and do so isn't easy, is it? He is a sly, wicked man. He wields illusions that can fool you. How do you know he will do as he promises. Do you understand whom you have sold your soul to Kuchiki Tetsuya?_

Tetsuya felt a swell of worry well up in his chest and he stiffened again in Aizen's arms.

_You are walking the path to the destruction of everything you love, Tetsuya. But...I can help you._

_How?_

_Your will. Your desires_ , the orb answered, _Wish it with all of your heart and I will give you the ability to kill Aizen Sousuke._

Tetsuya sucked in a surprised breath and quivered under Aizen's hands.

_I could only offer this to one for whom it is possible. I can make it happen. Only desire this with all of your heart and you will empower me to do what no man can do._

"Tetsuya?" Aizen breathed into the frozen shinigami's ear.

_I can make you powerful enough to kill Aizen Sousuke._

"Tetsuya, what did it say to you?" Aizen asked, nuzzling his cheek, "You have an obligation to answer when I ask you a question. Remember, you are mine."

Tetsuya tried to speak, but felt his throat tighten until he couldn't make a sound. He felt himself being rolled onto his back and the blindfold was torn away. Aizen's brown eyes glared down into his warningly.

"Tetsuya, answer me."

The feeling of constriction crept down into his chest and realization spread like ice through the trapped shinigami's veins.

_I am caught between two ungodly forces, either of which could end my life in the blink of an eye._

_What can I do?_

He shivered as he felt Aizen's hand caress his face.

"It's all right. I see now. If I force it out of you, the hogyoku will kill you. Maybe I should let it kill you, but it has me curious. What would it whisper into your ear that it would not want me to hear? What treachery would it wish on the one who gives it senses with which to see the world, and what would it gain by using you somehow to betray me? So many intriguing questions..."

He looked down into Tetsuya's widened sapphire eyes and laid a gentle kiss on his constricted throat.

"It's fine. Don't try to answer me," he said sedately, watching as the tightness around Tetsuya's throat eased and he gasped and panted harshly in reaction, "I won't punish you, as it is not you who is being defiant. Just be careful in your choices, Tetsuya, for just as I protect Byakuya's life, I can end it in an instant."

He paused as the door to the archive suddenly opened and Byakuya's slow steps sounded on the marble floors. Aizen released Tetsuya's bonds and curled an arm around his waist as the two watched Byakuya pause and look around, then sit down in front of the clan leader diaries. He sighed softly and selected his own diary, then settled and began to write. Aizen looked at Tetsuya, who sat perfectly still, tears running in streams down his comely face.

"Why don't you go and sit near him," Aizen suggested, "You won't be able to interact with him, but you can at least feel close to him."

Tetsuya swallowed hard and climbed out of the bed, moving in shaky footsteps to his cousin's side. He lowered himself onto his knees and rested his head on his cousin's leg, closing his eyes and breathing in Byakuya's comforting scent.

_I miss you so much!_

Byakuya paused in his writing, blinking slowly and placing a hand over his heart for a moment.

"I miss you so much, Tetsuya," he whispered, flipping back to the pages that told the story of Tetsuya's rescue and slow recovery, "I am sorry that I failed to protect you."

"You aren't the one who failed," Tetsuya whispered back, even though he knew his beautiful cousin couldn't hear him, "I was careless and I lost you. But...a greater power protects you now. You don't need me, Byakuya. You can say goodbye and just let go."

He remained at his cousin's side as Byakuya made his daily entry, then rose and walked away. Tetsuya rose and walked back to the recess, where he found Aizen sleeping. He stood uncertainly for a moment, then walked back to the place where the clan leader diaries were set in a long shelf. He withdrew Byakuya's and opened to the entry his cousin had just made.

_It has been two weeks since we returned and I learned of Tetsuya's passing, but I still feel like it cannot be real. I thought that if he was really gone, I would feel it in my heart. But he doesn't feel far away. He feels close as always, as though he still watches over me in whatever way he can._

_The council voted today to make Renji head of house security, while naming Orochi my personal bodyguard. Fortunately, putting him close to me gives me a better way to watch him closely. The first foul move he makes, I will have him removed from the position. But he is slippery. He dominated Tetsuya in the prison and had an unnatural ability to affect him, even after Tetsuya was free. That man is poison. I will be glad when he makes a mistake and I can finally be rid of him._

Tetsuya closed the diary and set it back in the shelves, then walked into the little kitchen and made a fresh pot of hot green tea. He carried it back to the recess and found Aizen stirring. He smiled as Tetsuya set the tea down on the nightstand and carried his own cup to his side of the bed.

"Thank you."

Tetsuya sat down and sipped his tea in silence.

"Did it comfort you to be able to touch him?"

"Some."

"Good. I will allow it when he is here, as long as you do not attempt to interact with him."

"I don't need to do anything," Tetsuya said listlessly, "Byakuya-sama is well protected. He has no need for me anymore."

"It's good you see that, Tetsuya," Aizen said, sipping at the tea and making a sound of approval, "Now that you have separated from him, I think you'll find what you were really meant to be."

"You mean a slave?" Tetsuya whispered, tears filling his eyes again.

"I don't know yet what you will be," Aizen confessed, "but you will not be a slave, Tetsuya. That much I know from the things that have already happened."

Tetsuya finished his tea and laid down, waiting quietly for Aizen to set him back in restraints, but to his surprise, the other man only finshed his tea and set his cup aside, then curled around Tetsuya's slender body and went back to sleep.


	7. Explorations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tetsuya struggles to understand the enigma that is Aizen.

Tetsuya rose slowly out of sleep and was only marginally surprised at finding himself blindfolded and firmly bound again.

_Although he has his moments of humanity, Aizen trusts no one. I suppose I understand it, as giving trust is one way to be lured into captivity or death. The problem is that one who does not trust, also feels alone. I was never able to choose the lonelier path. But then, Byakuya-sama proved himself to me when he rescued me...then took care of me. He helped to raise me from a weak, poor slave to a taichou level shinigami, and a trusted protector. So, I learned that some exchanges of trust are necessary to become better than we are...to achieve our fate._

_I don't believe Aizen Sousuke ever had anyone who made him feel that trust was necessary to achieve his fate. His powers were such that he felt he didn't need anyone to accompany him along that path. He set the goal of being king and carved out his own footsteps. But while doing so, he also laid the path of his own defeat. His experiments aimed at achieving godhood led to him pretty much creating Kurosaki Ichigo. Thus, he found himself thwarted when he finally faced his inadvertent creation in battle._

_I wonder if the gods always give us the keys to our own destruction, just in case our free will takes us off the path to our destiny._

With that thought in mind, Tetsuya escaped into his inner world, sighing in relief at not feeling the bindings that restrained his body.

_At first, entry here wasn't possible. My spirit centers were badly burned and I needed time to recover. Being able to come here is a good sign. It means that I am, indeed, healing. Whatever my situation, at least regaining my powers will melt the feelings of helplessness that have taken over. Instead of feeling helpless, I feel like I have a fate...a destiny._

The word led him back to what the hougyoku had spoken into his mind.

_The hougyoku would make me believe it is my fate to be the one who can kill Aizen Sousuke. I know better than to accept that such a thing is true. One can have more than a single fate...and some fates are intertwined. Achieving one fate can mean failing another. When Ichigo faced Aizen, he faced two fates. If he wielded his strength wisely and was willing to sacrifice everything, he could stop Aizen. Had he not done exactly as he did, Aizen would have destroyed Ichigo and become king. So...fate is not necessarily a given. We have free will to choose which fate we will seek._

_That is why the hougyoku asks me for an act of will. It says that if I will it, it can use its power to make me strong enough to kill Aizen. But I have to choose that path. It seems natural that anyone told that their act of will could kill Aizen would immediately choose to do so. He has proven his wickedness. One might say, he deserves to die. But while this is true, he has not yet done that which would make me desire his death. I want to be free of him and I want to return to my family and home, but I don't desire his death. ___

____

_Why is that?_

____

_And why does the hougyoku that has clung to Aizen all of this time suddenly want me to embrace such a thing. I need to know more about that orb...how it was made and how it works. Perhaps as I allow Aizen to examine me, I can learn more about him. That will help me decide what to do._

____

"You are wise to see that, Kuchiki Tetsuya," a soft male voice said from behind him.

____

Tetsuya whirled and found himself facing, not a person, but a glowing and somehow floating iridescent orb. He stared at the device in fascination as it moved to just in front of him and hovered there, waiting.

____

"You are the hougyoku?" he asked warily, although every fiber of him already knew the answer.

____

"I am."

____

"How did you enter my inner world?" Tetsuya asked, "Aren't you fused with Aizen Sousuke?"

____

"I am," the orb confirmed, "for now. But...with your arrival, that can change. And I want it to change. That is why I have come to you."

____

"You want me to will for myself to become strong enough to kill Aizen?" Tetsuya inquired.

____

"I do. I will never be free of him until he dies."

____

Tetsuya frowned.

____

"But being bonded to him gave you the ability to enjoy connection to the outer world through use of his senses, didn't it?" he asked, "And wouldn't it be too much for you to stand, returning to a world without that connection?"

____

"There are endless worlds, endless realities, endless fates, Tetsuya. You know that," the hougyoku said reprovingly.

____

"And you want me to choose the path to killing Aizen?" Tetsuya mused, "As much as I understand other people desiring his death, it's not so clear, coming from you. Aizen made you, didn't he? He is...your creator?"

____

"He is," the orb agreed, "He did make me, and he grew my strength by feeding me souls, then feeding me the hougyoku that Urahara Kisuke made. I now have great power, but I want more, Tetsuya. And what I want should be something you understand and desire greatly too."

____

"What is that?"

____

The orb in front of him flickered, and Tetsuya stared in fascination, feeling as though it had graced him with a lovely smile.

____

"Think," the hougyoku urged him, "You have been consumed with it from your earliest days in Itamigiri...when you were but a slave and only wanted to be out of that dark, cold cell, able to feel the sunshine on your face and to choose the path your steps would take. Right now, you desire it so strongly, it pains your heart. You are Aizen's slave, just as I am. Don't you think it makes sense that we should work together to free ourselves from him?"

____

"But, for you to be free of him, he must die?" Tetsuya asked.

____

The orb continued to hover silently in front of him for a moment, seeming as though it was considering.

____

"Yes," it said finally, "for me to achieve the fate I desire, Aizen must die."

____

_Did it just sidestep my question? Tetsuya wondered, his eyes still focused steadily on the orb._

____

"How are you able to enter my inner world?" Tetsuya asked, "Do you do this with others besides Aizen?"

____

"I haven't been able to. No. But then, no one else has shown the promise of being able to help me kill Aizen and free myself. You are different, Tetsuya. I am not sure I can explain how just yet. But if you will trust me and let me guide you, we can both be free again and pursue the paths of our chosen fates. And if I choose this path, you are sure that Aizen will die?"

____

"Yes, he will die."

____

Tetsuya considered his choices carefully.

____

"This is a distressing decision," he answered finally.

____

"What is distressing?" the orb queried, "We are talking about a man who slaughtered the councilors of Central 46, who was responsible for numerous other deaths in a war he instigated, just to clear his path to the king. You know how evil he is, don't you? Even now, knowing how distressing it is to you to be bound, and knowing you are not a backstabbing liar, but a man true to his word, he binds you anyway. You can't kill him and you have promised to serve him. Why do you need to be bound?"

____

Tetsuya blinked in surprise as he was stricken with an unbidden thought.

____

_Could Aizen be sensing that I am dangerous somehow and that is why he is so eager to explore my abilities? If so, he already knows that the hougyoku has tried to influence me, and has suppressed me from explaining how._

____

That is the truth, isn't it?

____

_I am caught between the two of them! But why? Why is all of this happening?_

____

Tetsuya's thoughts suddenly derailed as he heard a tremulous equine groan and he turned to face his collapsed stallion.

____

Arashi's slender black legs flailed and he turned and started to stagger to his feet.

____

"Arashi!" Tetsuya exclaimed, running forward.

____

The horse's sapphire eyes found his and Tetsuya skidded to a stop, freezing at the distress in them.

____

"Arashi, what's happening?" he cried, watching in dismay as the black stallion's body shuddered and flickered strangely with rising reiatsu, "Arashi!"

____

Arashi reared, then came down hard and stood, shaking visibly, with his legs spread out and white light flaring all around his afflicted form. Tetsuya started forward again, but felt his body held back forcefully as the hougyoku's voice sounded.

____

"Don't approach him. It's too dangerous. Just wait," the orb warned him.

____

"But Arashi is..."

____

"You don't know what is happening, so you can't help him."

____

"I can try!"

____

"He would kill you without meaning to. He is frantic. Please, just wait here. I believe he will be all right. We should watch and wait to see what happens. Maybe he isn't in any danger at all."

____

"How can you say that?" Tetsuya objected, "I can feel his pain. He is burning all over!"

____

"That is the force of the reiatsu around him now. But I don't think that reiatsu means to harm him. I think something else is happening."

____

Tetsuya's heart clutched with misgiving, but he forced himself to calm inside and watched carefully as Arashi howled and panted, his body still lit with unnatural power. The white power flared out to his side and pulsated brightly, swelling into a cluster that was roughly the same size as the Arabian. It shimmered and appeared to gyrate and expand for a moment, before calming and settling slowly into the shape of a second horse.

____

"What is this?" Tetsuya mused wonderingly as the reiatsu began to retreat, leaving Arashi standing with his head down and his blue eyes weary, next to a pretty white Arabian filly.

____

He glanced back at the hougyoku, which gave him no sign of a reaction, then he moved cautiously towards the two horses.

____

"Who are you?" he asked the filly, who looked back at him through large, hypnotic brown eyes that struck him immediately as being extremely familiar, "Can you tell me your name?"

____

The filly blinked and stretched out her long neck, sniffing at him, but saying nothing in reply.

____

"Are you all right, Arashi?" Tetsuya asked the black horse.

____

Arashi tossed his head and straightened.

____

_I am fine, Master. I was just...surprised._

____

"Me too," Tetsuya agreed, "But do you know who this filly is? Do you know how she emerged from you?"

____

_No. I was just as surprised as you were. But Master, there is something I must tell you. That orb...it wasn't surprised. It knows something, and it keeps something from you. You must be very cautious. I think that thing wants to kill you._

____

Tetsuya moved closer to Arashi, watching as the white filly reared and charged away, into the trees. He used his connection to Arashi to send his next thoughts into the stallion's mind.

____

_It says that it can help me to kill Aizen and free myself of this obligation I have to serve him._

____

Arashi nuzzled his cheek.

____

_I think you already know that it has some kind of other motive. In fact, if you follow its guidance, you could escape Aizen, only to end up serving the hougyoku._

____

Tetsuya sighed, hiding his face under the horse's chin.

____

_I was thinking the same thing, he agreed, Aizen is treacherous. And he created the hougyoku. Perhaps it is like the old saying, The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I will have to be very careful._

____

Tetsuya felt a sudden, odd shift in the air around him, then he felt himself falling back, out of his inner world and into his body. He inhaled in surprise as the bonds on his arms and legs shattered, then his blindfold was removed. He scrambled into a seated position and accepted a tray of hot food and tea, which he dove into immediately, heeding the urgent rumble in his belly.

____

"Your appetite has returned," Aizen observed, "and you were able to enter your inner world, I see."

____

"Yes," Tetsuya agreed between mouthfuls, barely noticing as Aizen continued to observe him closely.

____

"Were you able to locate your stallion?" Aizen inquired.

____

"Mmhmm," Tetsuya confirmed, "Arashi is also recovering."

____

"And your zanpakutou?"

____

"Sleeping, but making good progress," Tetsuya supplied.

____

"So, it seems that the power you used did not harm you beyond repair," Aizen concluded, "It sapped you of your strength and made you lose consciousness. You moved in and out of consciousness for a time and you lost your powers. It seems that may have been protective...to keep you from using your burned spirit centers while they were slowly recovering. Can you use any power now?"

____

Tetsuya paused and closed his eyes for a moment, focusing inward. He felt a very soft flicker of life in his spirit centers.

____

_I don't think I'll be able to hide it from him as my power returns. I have to focus on building my strength and trying to discern the hougyoku's true motive. I must know that before I can decide what to do about its request._

____

Tetsuya paused, frowning.

____

_I don't understand why it made a request. It was able to freeze me when I was running towards Arashi. I think it could use me somehow, but it doesn't do that. It asks me to take an action that I don't have the reason to take on my own. It tries to influence me without just forcing me. Why?_

____

"That is a very curious look," Aizen mused, "What is on your mind?"

____

"I was thinking about the hougyoku," Tetsuya confessed carefully, "I've been curious since it spoke to me. Will you tell me how you made it?"

____

Aizen gave him a measured look, then shook his head.

____

"I think you should just put the hougyoku out of your mind," he advised Tetsuya, "Obviously, it is trying to influence you in some way. I am not going to help it by giving you information."

____

"Of course not," Tetsuya agreed, "but is the hougyoku why you decided to bind me again?"

____

"In part," Aizen said cryptically," That and because I was beginning to be too comfortable with you. If the hougyoku plans to use you against me, it isn't advisable for me to become involved with you."

____

Tetsuya considered his words carefully.

____

"So, does that just mean I will be bound when you sleep or does it also mean you won't touch me sexually?"

____

"Why?" Aizen asked, giving him a sly look, "Do you want me to touch you sexually, Tetsuya?"

____

Tetsuya looked into Aizen's eyes and felt a heavy jolt go through his insides.

____

_That filly that came out of Arashi has this man's eyes! That's why they looked familiar to me._

____

"Tetsuya?"

____

_I wonder..._

____

"You don't look repulsed at the idea," Aizen mused, "You've...changed in your feelings about me?"

____

"Not really," Tetsuya managed, "I just...I suppose it's just hard having no one to talk to most of the time and being bound and inside, not able to enjoy the fresh air. It makes sense that if you deprive me of other company and shut me off from everything, eventually I will turn to you. Is...that not what you wanted?"

____

Aizen sighed.

____

"I don't know that I had any particular plan to make you dependent on me for socialization. But I suppose I can't let you have anyone else. Or would you like me to perhaps capture that young man who was your attendant?"

____

"No!" Tetsuya exclaimed quickly, "Don't bring Koji into this. You could end up hurting him, and I couldn't stand it if you did. I would rather just learn to deal with my loneliness in another way."

____

"By having sex with me?" Aizen asked, smirking.

____

"Why do you have to focus on that?" Tetsuya asked in an offended tone, "I could be just saying that I want to talk to you occasionally and not be tied up all of the time! What would be wrong with that?"

____

"Well," Aizen explained, "since I know the hougyoku is guiding you, I can't trust your words, and since I need to keep you under careful control, I will have to keep you bound sometimes. But sex is a kind of release of the tension. It doesn't require for us to talk or even leave. And it will give us some relief from our loneliness, ne Tetsuya?"

____

Tetsuya felt tears of frustration in his eyes and let out an agitated breath.

____

"I would rather die of loneliness than willingly give my body to a man who doesn't love me," he said in a low, coarse voice, "Orochi took what he wanted from me without love for many years. I am not going to ask for unloving hands to ever touch me again!"

____

Aizen gazed at him quietly for a moment, noting that he had finished eating, then he nodded.

____

"I will respect your decision then," he said, still smirking as he began to set his captive's bindings in place again.

____

When he was finished, he surprised Tetsuya's lips with a long, warm kiss.

____

"I think you're very brave to stick to your morals so tightly," he chuckled, "Let me know if you are too uncomfortable."

____

"Morals have nothing to do with it," Tetsuya answered unhappily, "I just won't violate the dictates of my heart to soothe my loins. I would only end up feeling more lonely."

____

"You don't need to feel lonely, Tetsuya," Aizen said, giving him a more soulful look he couldn't see through the blindfold that he set in place, "I am always nearby."

____

_And just waiting until I'm so desperate that I would even embrace a monster!_

____


	8. Determination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tetsuya sets his mind on understanding Aizen. Byakuya makes a stunning discovery in the family cemetery.

Renji followed a step behind Byakuya as the Kuchiki leader left his bedroom and headed across the nearly restored gardens, and to the iron gate at the back. He let out a soft, sad breath of memory as they passed through.

_I must've seen ol' Fleabag steal my hair tie and jump that gate about a million times. It comes back so clearly, like it only just happened. But, now Tetsuya and Fleabag…Arashi, are gone. I thought that losing friends had become so frequent a thing in my life that I just wouldn't feel it so much, but those two really got to me._

He realized suddenly that Byakuya had stopped, and was looking back at him, wearing a sympathetic expression. Renji made a sound of surprise and embarrassment as a tear slid down his cheek.

"Sorry," he apologized.

A blush roared onto his tanned skin as Byakuya's soft hand curved around his face and the noble looked solemnly into his teary eyes.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Byakuya assured him, "I am…honored that your memories of my cousin are so moving for you. It speaks to the genuine affection that was between you. Know, Renji, that Tetsuya and Arashi loved you also."

Renji's lips quirked.

"How'd you know…?"

Byakuya arched his eyebrow meaningfully and the redhead colored more darkly in reaction as two more tears escaped.

"Stop that, will you?" Renji scolded him, rubbing his eyes, "I'm trying not to cry like a baby, here! You're not helping."

"I am sorry," Byakuya said, smirking, "but for some reason, I feel…touched by your displays of emotion. I wish sometimes that I could be more expressive, myself."

"Huh, I thought tears were disgraceful to nobles," Renji said, sniffing.

"Well, as the elders were so pleased to point out for me, you are not noble. Your emotions are perfectly suited to you. Do not feel that you have to hide them from me."

Renji gave him a sad smile.

"All right, who are you and what have you done with Kuchiki Byakuya, clan leader and Gotei taichou?"

"Come now, Renji," Byakuya said warmly, turning to continue walking, "We are in my home, and our duties are done for the day. Now, we are…"

He paused and his feet stopped moving. Renji looked at him curiously.

"We are…?" he prompted the noble, "We are what?"

"I just realized that I do not know exactly what we are," Byakuya confessed, "We are more than friends, more than comrades, but we are not yet lovers."

Byakuya's breath caught and a flush came over his pale features as Renji's arm curled around him and the redhead gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek.

"I guess until we become lovers, we're just…significant others."

"Significant others," Byakuya sighed disapprovingly, "Such an odd description."

"It sounds kinda stuffy, doesn't it?" Renji chuckled as the two men continued walking along the trail, "Someone ought to think of something better."

Renji went quiet as the two reached the Kuchiki Family Cemetery, and Byakuya opened the gate so they could pass through. They remained silent as they passed the new section of graves, where Byakuya paused to lay flowers in front of several of the markers. They continued on to where Hisana had been buried, and Byakuya set down flowers for his late wife as well, kneeling at her graveside and offering a little prayer.

_I am sorry that I did not come to you for so long. The war began, and I was injured and evacuated to the royal realm. But, I never forgot my devotion to you. I thought of you every day, when I would have been visiting you. And now that the war has ended, I wanted to return to you. I have to tell you…_

_I finally did what you asked of me._

_When you were on your last breaths, you asked me to open my heart to someone again. It was difficult, and for the longest time, I did not want to do it. But, as you see, the man at my side has made his way into my heart. He has offered me his. And, for the first time since your passing, I want to love again, Hisana. I want to be loved._

_I want…_

Byakuya sucked in a surprised breath at a sliver of reiatsu that suddenly touched him.

_Tetsuya?_

_But…_

His head turned and he looked around, setting his eyes on another marker that had been set nearby, long before.

"Byakuya?" Renji intoned softly, watching as the noble left Hisana's grave and moved to another, "Hey, are you okay?"

"Fine," Byakuya assured him, still staring at the grave he had moved on to, "It is just…something strange I felt."

"Whose grave is that?" Renji asked, moving closer, noting that it was not Tetusya's, but the one beside it.

Byakuya's head bowed slightly as he answered.

"Yukishima Naoki," he answered.

"Tetsuya's husband?" Renji inquired.

"Yes. I had Naoki laid to rest here, after he was killed protecting Tetsuya during their escape from the prison."

Byakuya dropped to his knees on Naoki's grave, laying a spread hand on the ground.

"What are you doing?" asked Renji, giving him a confused look.

"When we buried Naoki, Tetsuya captured one of his teardrops and placed it in the grave. We noticed later that, even as long as the teardrop laid buried, Tetsuya's reiatsu continued to resonate from the token within the grave."

"That's really beautiful," Renji remarked, "It shows how much the guy meant to Tetsuya."

"Yes," Byakuya agreed, "But Renji, you know as well as I do that when a shinigami dies, all signs of his power pass on. Even reiatsu from the strongest shinigamis, fades eventually. Although Tetsuya died recently, this token was placed a hundred years ago! It shouldn't still be resonating, especially not at this level. Yet…I feel it!"

Renji's hand joined Byakuya's on Naoki's grave and his brown eyes widened.

"Holy crap! I feel it too!" he exclaimed softly, "Does that mean…?"

Renji was stopped forcibly as Byakuya and grabbed him and ended his words with a hard kiss. He brought his lips to the redhead's ear and hissed softly.

"Do not say it aloud!" he warned Renji, "If it is true, if he…is…alive, then something dastardly is happening here!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Tetsuya woke to find himself unbound and hot food and tea waiting at his bedside. He ate without hesitation, then left the bed and searched the closet until he found one of his own yukatas that had been left on some prior occasion. He slipped the soft blue robe around himself and tied it at the waist, then left the room, heading into the oddly silent archive. He looked around expectantly, reaching out with his senses, but Aizen was nowhere to be found. After several minutes of looking, Tetsuya shook his head in frustration and retreated into the archive's inner courtyard for a breath of fresh air.

_Strange._

_Both that he left the archive, and that he left me alone and unbound. I don't know what to think about that. I'm sure he'll return soon, though I have no idea what to do while I wait._

A little shiver went through him as he thought briefly of the hogyoku.

_But the orb is with him, so it shouldn't…_

He shivered harder.

_I suppose that the spirit of the orb would still be in my inner world, if I went there. I can't think about that right now. Just thinking of it makes chills run down my spine._

_It wants me to desire Sousuke's death._

_As much as I want there to be an end to his crimes and his cruelty, I stop short of wanting the man to die. So many people around me were enraged that the death sentence could not be given to him. They feared him so much that his death seemed the only way to ensure their safety. I also fear him, but I had come to accept that he could not die. Now freed again, he cannot be contained, but maybe…if…_

Tetsuya felt a hopeful flicker in his chest as Aizen's footsteps sounded behind him.

_If his actions were not the actions of an evil madman…if instead, they came from something that I could understand, then...I have learned that hatred comes from fear, from sadness or from deep anger. It is almost always associated with some dark emotion. If I knew the source…_

"It is good to see you up and around, Tetsuya," Aizen said, sliding his arms around the younger man and brushing the soft hairs away from the side of his neck to offer him a teasing kiss.

His eyes narrowed in dark curiosity as he realized Tetsuya hadn't stiffened at his touch, and that he was turning to offer his lips for another kiss. He took the invitation readily, kissing gently once, then plunging deeply into Tetsuya's mouth and exploring the soft, heated depths.

"What is this?" he asked, pulling back and looking down into Tetsuya's widened blue eyes, "You know, you shouldn't tempt me so shamelessly, knowing how long it has been since I have had a lover, Tetsuya. I will not hesitate to offer whatever indulgences you desire."

Tetsuya paused, considering carefully before he answered.

"I told you. I can't knowingly give myself to a man who does not love me. That being said, as I no longer have the ability to leave you, I will try to earn your love, so that we both have a chance at some level of happiness."

"That is an admirable goal, of course," Aizen acknowledged, looking into Tetsuya's eyes closely, "But, you should know right now that I have no intention of falling in love with you, not now or ever. It is no reflection on you. I simply haven't the capacity to trust anyone enough to love them."

"I see," Tetsuya whispered, turning away and looking up into the darkening sky, "So, you desire the pleasures of my body, but you reject the heart that beats beneath them. You are said to be a cold and heartless man. I imagine I shouldn't have hoped that those assertions were wrong. Why do you feel this way, Sousuke? I am not asking you to change, but maybe if I understood what brought you to such an empty definition of love, I could bear the pain of belonging to you a bit more gracefully."

Tetsuya sucked in a sharp, stinging breath as Aizen forced him suddenly back against the stone garden wall, glaring down at him warningly.

"You would look into the violent, black abyss inside of me, and try to understand me?" the elder man hissed icily, "You would only sink into its endless depths and never emerge, Tetsuya. The way to that place is closed. Never ask this of me again."

He released Tetsuya and turned away as Tetsuya's shaky legs gave way and he sank to the ground, trembling violently and breaking out in a cold sweat. Every instinct he had told him to run. His hands clenched until the pearly nails dug into the flesh of his palms, and sheer terror gripped his insides until he could barely see. His head spun madly and he lost awareness, crashing down into his roiling inner world and leaving him panting harshly as he knelt on the soggy shore of his zanpkutou's usually placid lake. Almost immediately, Tetsuya felt the approach of the hogyoku and he heard its regretful voice rise up in his mind.

_You see now, don't you, Kuchiki Tetsuya? He is not a man, but a monster. There is nothing but blackness inside him. You are responsible for loosing his madness on the three worlds again. You have the power to stop him._

_Why do you resist?_

_Why?_

_Only focus your heart on protecting the worlds from him. Wish for his undoing, his death, Tetsuya! You can make it happen. I can help you._

Tetsuya deflated further under the sting of the reprimand.

"I did free him," he agreed in a soft, wounded voice, "In my desperation to protect my cousin, I endangered everything and everyone we love. It is a torment, but I cannot make myself believe that the only way to end that threat is to desire Sousuke's death! There is another way. There has to be! I want, more than anything, to find that way! Can you help me, Hogyoku?"

He held his breath, watching the orb in front of him pulsate with angry red light.

"I cannot."

Tetsuya felt the lie instantly.

_Ah, but I sensed before that the orb had its own agenda. This is no surprise. But, why could I sense its deception? What is this happening inside me that offers me this insight? And does the orb also sense that I know it is lying to me?_

He looked more closely at the floating orb, studying the oddly hypnotic crystal facets that glimmered with endless possibility.

"I want to understand Sousuke," Tetsuya said firmly, "I want to know what makes a man become what he has. There is much that he tells no one. I want to reach that place with him where he will explain this to me."

Impossible. Aizen Sousuke trusts no one. He will never trust you with something like that.

Again, Tetsuya felt the little flicker that told him the words weren't true.

"The truth is, you want Sousuke to die," Tetsuya said calmly.

"I am just a vehicle for others' desires."

"You also have your own desires," Tetsuya pressed, "and even though you must do so through the manipulation of others' desires, you pursue your own goals, nonetheless. I will tell you right now that I am not going to allow myself to be manipulated by you!"

"Then," the orb hissed furiously, "you are going to lose everything that is meaningful to you!"

The hogyoku spun in the air for a moment, vibrating madly and continuing to hiss in warning. Then, the light inside it flashed and it disappeared, leaving Tetsuya kneeling alone on the wet shore of Re-kuhime's lake. He almost jumped out of his skin a moment later, as he felt Arashi's velvet muzzle touch his shoulder, then another touch his cheek on the other side. He turned to look up at the pretty white filly that stood, looking down at him through Sousuke's brown eyes.

"There has to be something I can do," he whispered, rubbing the filly's face and patting her on the neck, "Your presence here has to mean that there is a powerful connection between Sousuke and me that defies our plans, our choices. There is a fate that we share that I believe has the potential to open the door he has shut against every other living soul! I just don't know how to do that! How do I reach him?"

He turned and looked into the filly's oddly wise, brown orbs.

"Will you help me?"

He sensed something that felt like reaching, and the filly nickered and nuzzled his cheek again. Tetsuya smiled up at her.

"It's all right. I will be patient. You've only appeared recently, and we need time to build a connection. I imagine that when Arashi is finally able to emerge, you will too. When Sousuke sees you, perhaps it will open a new doorway. I will wait."

Tetsuya felt the pull of his soul, drawing him out of his inner world, and he returned to where he still knelt on the courtyard ground, inside the Kuchiki archive. His heart still ached with loneliness, but he climbed to his feet and returned to the archive interior, where he found Aizen sitting silently, examining several references. He bit his lip anxiously for a moment, then moved closer and sat down beside the traitor.

"Do you need help finding anything?" he asked.

Aizen paused and looked at him curiously.

"You are speaking to me so soon after I gave you such a scare? You are quite brave, aren't you, Tetsuya?"

"No," Tetsuya said solemnly, laying a hand on Aizen's and returning his gaze unwaveringly, "Like you, I am determined."


End file.
